Twists of time
by Writer0895
Summary: Time can heal everything. Old wounds. Old feuds. Even that faint line between love and hate. And so, give time some credit and watch how it unfolds their story. Watch how time makes the dreams of a certain hazel eyed, messy black haired marauder comes true. Watch how a sweet, kind, green eyes, red haired girl finally surrenders to her feelings and says, "I love you."
1. Prolouge

_**Note from the author** : This is the very first fanfiction i am ever publishing. I have written many, but only for myself. So cheers and wish me luck._

_**ownership**_: _this account is mine, a bit of the story but everyhting else is owned by Queen Rowling._

**Prologue of sorts.**

Mudblood. It was funny how one single word can change and make an enormous difference in the life of a muggle born. Lily was in no case an exception, except maybe it changed her life more than any one else's.

the story picks up from right after snape calls lily a mudblood in their fifth year. The infamous incident is probably known to all, but still, a quick recap for others.

The final owls exam was just over- DADA. It went unexpectedly well. The marauders , rather lupin, was discussing the paper as they walked under their tree. There james started playing with a snitch he nicked from the school with sirius while peter watched them. Remus was engrossed in a book. Snape was passing by, and james because he was bored, hexed him. He used levicorpus and snape was hanging upside down in the air. James threatened to expose his boxers to the world when lily arrived asking , ordering james to let snape be. james finally relented, telling snape that he was lucky lily was around and snape said i dont need help from mudblood like her or something along those lines.

Thats where the story picks up . Cheers. Hope you like it.

Naturally queen rowling owns everything.


	2. Mudblood, slumber parties, nicknames

_**Note from the author**__: the very first chapter. I am excited and (can I whine over here?) I am supposed to be doing my home work. In any case, I am excited. I hope you all like it. At least, please don't be like me, and read the entire the chapter before giving up all hopes. Reviews including criticism, appreciated. Cheers. Also, sorry this chapter is huge. i just planned on writing a couple of pages (of my notebook) but I just kept on writing and forgot to stop. Silly me!_

_**Ownership:**__ All characters belong to Rowling or her publishers._

**1. Mudblood, Slumber parties, Nicknames and Anger**

_"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret." -Ambrose Bierce_

Mudblood. Mudblood. Mudblood.

His voice still rang through her head as she turned around and started walking towards the castle with unbelievable speed. As she reached the entrance hall, her quick walk turned into a sprint and soon she was running towards the Gryffindor common room. Luckily for her, exams had just ended that day and not many people would be in the common room to witness her.

As she opened her mouth to say the password, her voice choked and in less than 5 minutes, she was in her dormitory crying her eyes out. "Mudblood", he had called her. She had been called that several times but never did she imagine her best friend in the entire world would insult her in such a manner, in front of everyone or otherwise. Tears of sadness, betrayal, disappointment and finally anger rolled down her cheeks like they had no intentions of ever stopping.

15 minutes later, after what seemed an eternity, the doors of her dormitory finally opened to reveal her dorm mates and friends - Mary, Melina and Saffi.

"Lily, hush!" whispered Melina wrapping her arms around the shaking torso of her friend and sitting on Lily's bed beside her. Mary followed the suit while Saffi sat on the opposite bed, leaning over to hold Lily's hand. Lily continued to cry when finally Saffi asked "how can we help Lily? Speak lils, get it out. "

She didn't bother with "its okay" because she knew it would not be or with "how are you?" because she was obviously not fine. And for this Lily was grateful. Lily opened her mouth but when only sobs came out she closed it again. Her voice failed her and she dissolved further into tears. Her friends exchanged worried looks but she didn't notice. Finally through her sobs, she spoke.

"He is my best friend! How could he? We had fight yesterday and we had just made up today morning. He -sob- promised - sob- no more fights. We fought because I thought his friends were horrible to support mudblood - her voice choked - business. He agreed it was wrong. He promised he wouldn't stoop that low, he wouldn't judge anyone for their blood status; let alone me, his best friend. He lied, he broke his promise. Best friends don't do that. "

At this point, she looked ready to further dissolve into tears. Steadying herself, she continued, " And he... I, I was fighting for him. I fight with everyone for him and he doesn't even care. He is horrible. He... "

What exactly she thought he was, they never found out because she stopped speaking. Her sobs had reduced and her tears had dried. Taking a deep breath she steadied herself before getting up and going towards the bathroom. "I' m fine "she said as she splashed water over her face. Wiping her face she returned to find Mary and Melina standing while Saffi was stretched out on her bed.

"Lily, he made a mistake. It's his loss. Don't beat yourself for it, alright, because I know you tend to do that." said Saffi. Lily nodded before burrowing her head in her pillow. "Can we not talk about that, I..." she stopped as her voice threatened to break. Taking a deep breath, she continued," I think I am going to lie in for a while.

The three girls filed out as they realized that Lily needed some time alone. Mary McDonald was a brown haired, fair skinned Muggle born Gryffindor with height slightly less than average. She was best friends with Melina Braithwhite, a girl with huge blue eyes and short curly blonde hair. She came from a line of purebloods with many interesting ancestors, as was the case with plenty of pureblood families. Saffi Lovato was dusky with brown eyes and dark hair, also a pureblood. The four girls had been sorted into Gryffindor in their first year and shared a dorm together. Thus they were pretty thick friends.

Sighing, the girls trudged down the stairs and collapsed on the couch.

"What a way to celebrate the end of exams "exclaimed Melina gloomily.

"Poor lils, she didn't deserve It." said Mary feeling bad for her friend.

"Snape's an asshole. And a complete idiot for losing a friend like Lily" replied Saffi who had always disapproved of Lily's relationship with Severus Snape.

"Do you think they will stop being friends?" asked Melina. Saffi gave her a look that clearly said What-Do-you-Think.

"I suppose you are right." Melina answered herself.

Nodding Mary stood up and went to the common room window. It overlooked the backside of Hogwarts grounds and the Quidditch pitch. To the right was Hagrid's hut. The front side of Hogwarts would involve the courtyard and the black lake, along with the path leading to Hogsmeade at the right. The other end of the black lake came up near Hagrid's hut, thus completing a circle. The forest was all around the edge of roughly circular Hogwarts grounds, except for the front part leading to Hogsmeade. Hogwarts had complex geography and even after 5 year here, Mary was still amazed at the sheer size of the place. Staring outside she could see the Marauders, as they called themselves, loitering around the courtyard, but a lot more subdued. The evening had affected them all. If she would have known, she would have never let Lily go over to help the ungrateful git in the first place. She sighed wistfully as she thought of all the different way in which the situation could have turned out. Somewhere behind her, she realized, Melina and Saffi had stopped talking. She watched the sun sinking and slowly the darkness engulfed her and her thoughts. Slowly people began to trickle back in the common room.

Most of the seven years would be getting ready for Slughorn's farewell party. The younger students would be getting ready for some party or the other. Hogwarts held nearly 10 different parties on the last day of exams. Most of them were unofficial, except Slughorn's of course. Some were specifically for underclassmen, some for O.W.L students, some for Newt students, you get the gist.

As the common room became more crowded, Mary knew it was only a matter of time before her peace was disturbed. Sure enough, Leah Meriwether, a seventh year girl, approached her. "How is Lily?" she asked tentatively. As if it mattered to her. "Fine" replied Mary curtly. "Excuse me" she added as she turned to Melina and Saffi. Wordlessly the 3 of them went back to the solitude their dormitory offered. Lily was already up from her nap and was running a brush through her hair.

She smiled at them as she said, "I had the most awful dream ever. I hate nightmares. "

"Lily, it was not a nightmare, it happened" said Melina softly.

"Oh" Her smile faded but she continued to tie her hair.

"It's time for dinner. We thought we ought to wake you." said Mary changing the subject.

"I'm not hungry"

"Lily, you can't starve. You didn't eat anything in the morning either. "

"Mel, I don't want to eat."

"Not true" said Saffi "You want to eat. You just don't want to face Potter or Snape or Black or the rest of the world, and I don' blame you. Gossip and stories spread around this place quicker than you can say obliviate. Which is why mare and Mel will get us food and we can all eat here.

"Ooh, lovely idea Saffi, we can even have a slumber party, of sorts and everything." squealed Melina, trying to cheer up Lily. Her friend's excitement brought a smile to her face and the next thing she knew, Mel and Mary were tearing through Hogwarts to get some food before Lily changed her mind.

"Lily, I understand that you want some time to clear your head and you don't want to have deep heart to heart talks about what happened and I won't even bring up this topic again, unless you want to. I will even ask Mare and Mel to back off, but I want you to know that we are here for you, no matter what. "

Once having said what she had to say, Saffi sat down letting Lily digest everything. Sometime later, Melina arrived, looking rather flushed and all alone.

"That git, Snape was waiting outside the common room for you. Begged me and mare to let you talk to him and well, mare is probably still shouting his ear off. I just thought you should know. I didn't know what else to do." she explained rather hurriedly. Lily's mouth hardened and a look of cold anger settled in her eyes. Crossing her arms, she nodded in acknowledgement, before storming down the stairs.

In the common room, she bumped into Mary who looked rather miffed. "He's going to wait out all night, or so he claims" she said rather angry for her friend's sake. Looking at Lily, her eyes softened, "You don't have to go, but I know you. I know you are going to anyways. Do you want me to come?" she asked though she already knew the answer. "I have to this alone, but don't worry." said Lily.

Taking a deep breath to control her tears and with a quick backward count to reign in her anger, she stepped out of the common room. Severus Snape, a greasy black haired, sallow faced Slytherin was sitting on the cold floor looking glum and guilty. Lily awkwardly cleared her throat, her eyes still gleaming with anger. Startled, he looked up to find the object of his thoughts in front of his eyes.

"Lily!" he gasped "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to call you, you know what. I would never do that to you on purpose, you know I -"

"Do I?" she interrupted, her tone scathing. "Do I know anything about you Snape?" her use of his last name caused him to grimace. "The Severus I knew would never do that but I had a feeling that somewhere along the line I was losing him and you proved that he really is gone. I don't know who you are anymore. You are interested in dark arts, you hang out with wannabe death eaters and you obviously judge people like me, people who were gifted with the magical gene, people who have Muggle parents. You judge people for something they can't help. You didn't mean to, like hell I believe you. You had just as much choice to call me a mudblood as James potter had to hex you." she paused to take a breath and Snape seized his opportunity. Once again he started apologizing profusely.

"Don't!" Lily cut across him again." I don't want to listen. This was the final straw. I only came out because Mary said you refused to leave." and with that she marched away leaving an upset and kneeling Snape behind her. She disappeared behind the portrait of fat lady and Snape sank down on the floor once again, aghast. His mind still stuck on their conversation, replaying her words again and again, and each time they stuck him with more ferocity, leaving him more wounded than ever. He didn't recall getting back to the dungeons, but he must have because that's where he woke up, next morning.

In the meantime, Lily had walked inside the common room to find herself face to face with James potter, looking meaningfully at her. She tried to edge around him but he blocked her.

"Evans! I'm sorry for what happened today. "

Giving him the best glare she could manage, she tried to walk away again. This time he grabbed her wrist. Turning around she snatched her hand away before screeching, "Leave me alone. Haven't you done enough damage for the day Potter? Haven't you had enough? What? Couldn't find more innocent people to hex, not satisfied yet? "

"Hey, I didn't call you names. I just wanted to have a bit of fun."

"If you bothered to look around and notice anyone apart from you, you would realize that your opinion of fun is fun only for you."

He stared at her dumbstruck and she turned to leave once again, he muttered slowly, more to himself than her. "I'm sorry; I just wanted to ask you out."

"I'm never, ever going to go out with a big fat ego head like you so why don't you do both of us a favor and QUIT ASKING ME OUT."

* * *

_**Note from the author:**__ okay so I thought i would give you all a break. This chapter is becoming huger than I expected, but the imp. Parts are over. It is also coming close to an end. I wanted to split into two chapters but the rest part is not too important to make into a new chapter. Also I hope you liked what if wrote till now. Ok, have some food, stretch your legs and wash your eyes (staring at the computer for so long is not good for eyes). Once you are done, we can continue._

* * *

And QUIT ASKING ME OUT. "

With that she stormed up her staircase. She did not stop till she was standing outside her dormitory. Once she had calmed down, she opened her door to an astonishing sight.

Her dorm being in the Gryffindor tower was circular in shape. Along one side of the wall were 3 beds. At one end of these beds was the vanity mirror adjoining to the bathroom while at the other end of these beds was the entrance to the room. (Convenient if you were in a serious need to use the loo.) On the opposite wall were two more beds. The beds made an aisle the shape on a rugby ball. That was generally the case. However as Lily opened the door, she found that the side tables and dressers had been pushed to one side and the beds to the other, creating enough space in the middle for them to sit down. On the floor, she found Mary, Melina and Saffi in their pajamas with the food laid out in between. At her entrance they looked up and smiled.

"Go change! And then we'll talk." said Melina knowingly.

As she changed into her pajamas, Lily asked "Um. Do I want to know why our room is like this?"

"Yeah, we thought this will be more comfortable for all of us to sit and eat and chat around." replied Mary.

"We were actually going to use Mel's bed but she refused to allow" grinned Saffi.

"Ah! Of course, but does Emily know that her bed changed its position?" asked Lily. Emily Vance was their fifth roommate. She was a cheerful, carefree girl who happened to be the text book definition of pretty. She wanted to be a Ravenclaw and always stayed with them. She was thus not as close as the others.

"Nah! she is going to celebrate and will quite possibly end up staying out late and by the time she will be back, everything will be normal."

"Oo-oh-ka-yyy" said Lily, stretching the word out to four syllables, before adding, "Why is she celebrating?"

"Lils, exams, O-W-L-S, Owls, the high and mighty, ever imposing, annoying , we-have-to-ace-them-or-die , ordinary wizarding level examinations came to an end today" said Saffi in mock exaggeration.

The exams, they seemed ages ago.

"Oh, I forgot" she replied lamely.

Smirking, Melina looked at her, "Long day, huh!" Lily nodded.

"Oh! Come on, have a seat... err floor." said Mary patting the floor beside her gesturing Lily to sit down.

"Ooh, look. The elves packed us the jacket potatoes. I love jacket potatoes." said Saffi who started serving the food. The four girls ate, occasionally commenting on the tasty food and the thoughtfulness of the elves. Once finished, Melina inquired, "So what do we do now?"

"Well, usually for slumber parties, me and my Muggle friends watch T.V, late night movies and stuff but. " said Mary.

"But that's not possible right now" finished Lily for her.

"Yeah"

"What are a T.V and a 'movie'?"

"Merlin, Mel. Do you expect to pass your Muggle studies test?"

"Hey, no talking about tests " said Saffi.

"We could play exploding snap as we decide." suggested Lily.

"Sure we could, except that only I own a pack and you lot lost It." retorted Melina.

"Oh! Right, of course... um... err sorry, about that" said Saffi rather sheepishly.

"We could just nick a pack from the common room. Someone must've left a pack. "

"I'll get it" said Saffi.

Once she was gone, Mary looked at Melina hard trying to convey some unsaid message. Melina also responded in a similar manner, when Lily annoyed, glared at the pair of them. Noticing Lily, Mary cleared her throat before saying,

"Lily, we were thinking, me and Mel, about this whole matter that well, err, we think you want to stay alone and we will be more than happy to comply. We won't speak about this anymore but, err, don't interpret our silence wrongly. We will be there if you want to talk. "

Once saying this, Mary started staring intently at the ceiling while Melina remained fascinated with the floor patterns. Lily stared at them, dumbstruck, before sighing loudly. Then she did something even more unusual. She started laughing. Both Mary and Melina stared at her half scared, half shocked. Saffi entered the room presently.

"Do I want to know why you are laughing like a mad mass murderer?" she asked apprehensively. "Or has Mel finally cracked a good joke and I happened to miss the moment."

Lily stopped laughing while Melina made a face at Saffi. Lily got up and ordered Saffi to sit down.

"Guys," she began at length," I just screamed at Snape. We are not friends anymore; I doubt we will ever be. He has changed a lot. But he was still a close friend and I will need time to adjust. I am not fine but I will be, eventually. But it certainly doesn't help if you look like someone's died every time someone says 'potter' or ' mudblood' or 'Snape' in front of me. I will be fine and thank you for saying you'll be there for Me." she smiled at the last statement.

Finally Saffi broke the silence that followed Lily's rant.

"What the hell happened?"

And as Melina explained Saffi, Saffi in return relayed her conversation with Lily, which surprisingly was the same and soon the 4 girls were smiling once again. This time however, the tension in the air had cleared. Then they started a game of exploding snap.

"Also I asked bloody potter to get off my back." said Lily as she dealt the cards.

"I'm guessing you weren't quite this polite" said Saffi. Lily smiled and shrugged but did not bother to deny it. Her friends knew her well.

"It's your turn mare" said Melina.

"Why do you call me mare?"grumbled Mary as she played her card.

"'Cause it's your nickname silly" said Lily as she played

"But it doesn't make sense. Nicknames are shorter than the real name and hence easier to use. Mare is just as big as Mary" argued Mary.

"Darling, what is your point?" said Saffi.

"Mare makes me feel like a horse." said Mary frowning

"Well, you are a bit like a horse." said Lily

"Oh, shut up" retorted Mary

"Yeah, she loves to eat carrots doesn't she?" Saffi asked Melina

"Rabbits eat carrots, not horses." pressed Mary.

"There you go, you know so much about horses." grinned Melina

"Why is this becoming a ' lets-torture-Mary ' day." grumbled Mary.

She made a face while the other three laughed.

"I won" declared Lily," and Mary McDonald, you will always be mare, just like Melina will always be Mel and Saffi will be Saffi." she added, blowing kisses in her direction. Mary started to say something when Mel interrupted her.

"Oh my Merlin, will you look at the time. Its two thirty already. How many games did we play! Emily could be back any moment. "

"but I don't want to go to sleep yet" said Lily who had a good nap earlier.

"We could put the room back to its original state and then play on someone's bed." said Saffi the ever sensible one

"Or we could just talk. I haven't won a single game and it's getting boring." said Melina.

"Yeah we could do that."

And that was exactly what they did. Sometime around 3:30 they began to feel drowsy the previous weeks restless night's toll got them. At some point, they stopped talking. Torn between sleep and conscious, they lay in their beds thinking. Slowly unknown to them, sleep entered the room and worked its way to the common room. The party that had started downstairs at some point had commenced and just like that, Hogwarts was asleep.

* * *

_**Note from the author:**__ so, how was it? Did you like it? Will you bother to read the next chapter? Did you give up hopes? Please review. Once again I apologize for the huge chapter size. Next one will definitely be shorter. It broke my back, typing this one. Also, do you guys want an element of mystery or something dark? Should I involve voldemort and stuff? _

_Cheers and till then_

_Writer._


	3. The last week

_**Author's note:**_ _Hey, so yeah this is a pretty quick update but that is because I have some free time right now. But the next updates may take some time. Also, you lot didn't review much, please review this one, or else no cookies for you. I want to constantly improve myself. Cheers._

_**To the reviewers**__**:**_

_**Anon**__: yeah I know about the capitalization mistakes but this site doesn't put up a capital at beginning of the sentence, I have to do it myself and sometimes I forget. And (see, 'a' in 'and' is not capital) as for my grammar mistakes, I can only say I will try my best. Cheers and cookies to you, you were the first person to review me._

_**Disclaimer**__: You know this amazing world belongs entirely to Rowling._

**2. The last week**

_"The best thing about endings is knowing that just ahead is the daunting task to start over." - Jodi Picoult_

Lily Evans happened to be a very beautiful girl. She was happy with herself and her looks, and as a teenage girl, to achieve this is quite an achievement. She was not your picture perfect pretty face, but she was a firm girl with a genuine character. She had a kind heart and thus plenty of friends. She was sensible but indulged in girlish freak outs too. She had red hair that shined rather well in the sun that curled towards the tips. She was smart but not one of those teacher's pets. She had a rather pretty smile but if this description makes her seem perfect, then it couldn't be more wrong. She was not perfect. Birds didn't fly in slow motion. There were no violins in the background as she passed. Boys didn't turn their heads to stare at her (though quite a few did) and people didn't double back in the corridors to look at her. She didn't have a band of giggling girls surrounding her she went. No, she was not perfect, she was real. She was rude and sarcastic, she threw temper tantrums. She was confused more often than not. She put on makeup and she couldn't always control her tears. She was not always forgiving, she did have enemies. She did crib about homework and so on. No, she was not perfect, but she was beautiful, because beauty is not perfect, beauty is real.

Although, she was not feeling quite that beautiful as she woke on a Friday morning. The sunlight entered through the window, falling directly on her face, making her sub consciously shut her eyes tightly. She tried to turn and go back to sleep but that is the thing about sunlight entering your eyes when you are half asleep. Once it does, there is no going back. Lily realized this for she gave up on her sleep and sat up straight. Stretching herself and stifling a yawn, she checked the clock. It was just 7 o'clock. She scowled at the clock and at the sun for waking her up, and mentally scolded herself for not drawing the curtains before she slept. Knowing that her room mates wouldn't be up for quite some time, she decided to get dressed.

One of the benefits of getting up early was that no one else would be up yet. She would end up being mostly alone at the great hall and some solitude and some peace was what she longed for. Half an hour later, she entered the great hall to find that she was correct. A few Hufflepuffs lingered near their table and some Slytherins had come up for breakfast. Ravenclaw and Gryffindor tables were relatively less populated except for a few first years. Settling herself on the Gryffindor table, lily picked up a stray news paper that someone had probably left. "Hmm... someone was here before me" she thought, but the paper pushed that out of her mind. There was nothing new. A couple wizards meddling with magic, someone had discovered a new protective curse, the usual stuff.

"Why would we need a new protective curse when we already have 'protego' which, according to the article, is anyways more effective" Lily wondered.

Shaking her head, she finished her toast and wondered what to do. It was just 8 and her friends would still be happily snoring in their beds. It had been a long time since she was all alone with so much of free time that it confused her. She finally decided on getting a book and reading in the shade of the beech tree besides the lake. She sure as hell needed to catch up Muggle literature. As she walked back to the Gryffindor tower, she was pleasantly surprised to find no one staring at her in the corridors.

Two days ago, the morning after the disastrous mudblood incident, Snape was still waiting for lily in the entrance hall, where had only entered because her friends reasoned that she couldn't hide forever. Once again he tried to apologize and once again lily cut him off. To make matters worse, at that very moment James potter entered the entrance hall along with his friends. It inevitably resulted in a duel that went something like this: -

"Oh lily, come one please ..."

"Snape, Leave Me Alone!" replied lily firmly, her voice devoid of any emotion.

"Please ..."

"Don't make me hex you"

"Who's hexing Snape?" interrupted James, who had just entered and was unaware of the conversation that was going on. "It's my privilege, you can't just do that, you know "he continued.

Turning around furiously, lily replied, "Stay out of this potter!"

"Oh dear! Now now Evans, don't get mad at me, I was just leaving" replied James and he was really about leave. He just didn't want to get on lily Evans bad side when -

"Lily please, let us be friends again. I lo- I am really truly sorry." said Snape. He had almost said I love you but managed to correct himself in time. However James had caught on to what he had planned on saying and a wave of jealousy took over him. He tuned and roared "Rictumsempra", hitting Snape.

As Snape started rolling around tickled by some unknown force, lily became angrier than ever. Looking at James squarely in the eye, she hit him with a stinging jinx. "I told you to stay out of this." she muttered coolly.

Looking at Snape, "we cannot be friends anymore. Deal with it." and she left the place. By then however, quite a crowd had gathered and anyone who was living under a rock or making out in the broom closet the previous night had naturally found out everything.

Gossips and stories spread faster around here than you say obliviate. During the next couple of days, she had found out just how correct Saffi was. As she passed in the corridors, Slytherins glared at her , people in general stared and strangers pretended to be her best friends as they told her they were sorry. Bloody Merlin, she had stopped talking to Snape and they behaved like someone had died. Why wouldn't they just leave her alone?

As she made herself comfortable on ground with 'Anne of Green Gables', a rather interesting book she had come across, she came to a realization. She needed people to forget so that it would finally give her closure. She needed closure to get over her friendship break up with Snape. Why even now, every time she looked at him, it ached her heart.

Time flies when you are enjoying yourself. That was true, for soon lily was deeply immersed in the book, enjoying her solitude. But it was only a matter of time before her friends arrived with some ridiculous plan to make her happy. Sure enough, as she reached a rather interesting point in the story, she found the book snatched away from her.

"Hey!" she exclaimed, annoyed.

"You got up early on Sunday morning to read " said Saffi incredulous, standing before her, her hands on her hips.

From either side of the tree, Mary and Melina emerged.

"Lils, that is a crime" gasped Mary in faux horror while Mel looked angry. "You had us scared you know, we thought you were going to jump of the astronomy tower or something." she said.

Lily rolled her eyes before asking for her book back.

"No ways!" said Saffi in a sing song voice that was quite unusual of her.

"Just let me mark the page and i will come with you on whatever ridiculous thing you want me to do today." said lily.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, rather on the other side of Hogwarts, where people didn't read books or certainly didn't spend Sunday morning's on that, where people woke barely in time for lunch, where people mostly consisted of James potter, time was going very slowly.

Time crawls slower than a snail when you are getting bored out of your mind. James, a black haired, hazel eyed tall Gryffindor was getting very bored waiting for his best friend Sirius Black. His other two best friends, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, had gone ahead.

"Oi padfoot, hurry up mate." called out James, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Oh, come on, prongs. At least let me have a proper bath. you may not care about your hygiene but not everyone is like you." replied Sirius.

James snorted. "Hygiene, yeah right!" he thought "more likely making himself beautiful "

He waited for 5 more minutes before voicing his thoughts.

"Sirius, stop behaving like a girl and come out"

"Aw... Jamesie, 5 five more minutes, puh – lease." answered Sirius in the way girls would talk to James, trying to flirt with him.

"Sirius, 5 years inside the bathroom can't make you beautiful. Your face is ugly from birth, will remain till death." retorted James. This was not quite true. Sirius Black managed to make it to the top five handsome boys at Hogwarts. His long black, messy but well maintained hair and his charming smile made him look quite handsome.

"You don't say that to the girls." replied Sirius coming out of the lavatory.

"About time" muttered James, ignoring his question.

"What's the hurry prongs? We don't have any lectures any more, not that it mattered before." asked Sirius.

"nothing, it's nothing." James replied hurriedly. But Sirius knew something was wrong. What he didn't realize is that this behavior of James was due to Lily but he intended to find out. And so, once Sirius and James had settled down opposite to Remus and peter for lunch -

"James is worried about something but he refuses to tell." declared Sirius, knowing full well that with the help of Remus and peter, he would get James to spill.

"What! What happened, James?" asked peter concerned.

"Nothing!" snapped James glaring at Sirius.

"James, you should tell us. I have noticed that something is bothering you too." said Remus quietly.

"I hate you all" he sighed and others knew that they had won.

"That's because we are brilliant mates." said Sirius airily and Remus smiled. James and peter also had to give in.

"I was going to tell you lot anyways, because I need your help. What should I do to make Evans forgive me?" he asked, ignoring the looks that others had given each other.

"I was thinking of fireworks, maybe spelling out 'SORRY ' but that will be tough magic. Nothing we can't handle of cour-" He continued.

"What!" he broke off defensively, unable to ignore the look Remus had given him.

"Didn't she ask you to leave her alone, mate?" sighed Remus.

"Yeah, but she-"

"Then maybe you should listen to her." said peter scared but wanting to help his friend all the same. He was not sure if that was the thing to do, girls were not his forte after all. But it seemed that he was correct.

"But- " protested James.

"Listen James, among the four of us, I believe I know her the best." said Remus.

"Moony, I know her t-" interrupted James again.

"Oh, for the love of Merlin James, shut up and let Remus speak." interrupted Sirius, rather loudly causing people to stare. This shut James up.

"Alright, so I have been patrolling with lily for a year now and we were on talking terms before and from what I figure of her, she would really appreciate it if you left her alone. Mate I know your feelings and I understand but she doesn't. She will only assume that you are trying to attract her attention and asking her out again or messing with her, which would be insensitive of you and also, you don't want to come off that way." finished the werewolf at length.

"So, what should I do?" asked james, defeated.

"Give her some time and space, prongs. Let it go and let her let it go." said Remus.

"By the way, James, how were you planning getting hold of fireworks?" asked Sirius nonchalantly.

"Oh, I was having this weird urge to visit Hogsmeade. It's been a long time since we visited Rosemerta" he replied with equal casualness, before breaking into a grin that was mirrored by his friends.

"Well, then we should certainly pay her a visit." said Remus suggestively.

"Now now moony, I don't want McGonagall to think I'm a bad influence on you. You are a prefect and everything, aren't you" replied Sirius in faux horror, before continuing "though we certainly do need those fireworks and I terribly miss rose". He looked positively devastated.

"Why do you want those fireworks? The years almost come an end." asked peter confused.

"For the last prank darling" replied Sirius, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

The last prank, as the marauders had started calling it was a prank that the four of them played on the last feast of the school year. This prank became a tradition after the marauders did it two years in a row without realizing it. This prank, surprisingly did not involve hexing anyone, but rather simply was a cause for everyone to lighten up and simply have fun.

"Have you already thought it out? I thought we were supposed to discuss it together." asked James.

"Well, I just only thought of it and we are discussing it right now. Actually you inspired me prongsie." replied Sirius matter-of-factly. As his friends waited for him to explain, he continued.

"Well, how about we put up a fireworks show " said Sirius.

Others looked at him skeptically. "Not much of a prank Sirius, no offence" said peter.

"No listen to the whole thing. Yes it will essentially be a fireworks show, but -" and he continued to explain the entire plan to the others.

On the other end of the Gryffindor table, lily Evans was sitting with her friends talking amiably. Mary had just arrived from somewhere looking rather excited.

"Spill " ordered Melina knowing that she couldn't contain herself.

"You know the night we had the slumber party" she started

"Yeah" replied the other three in unison.

"Remember how Emily wasn't there because she was at a party celebrating the end of owls?" continued Mary.

"Yeah!"

"Well, remember how she didn't come back till it was very late"

"Yeah!"

"That was because she was having fun... snogging Sirius Black." she declared.

"Merlin's pants, what!"

"I should ask her if he is any good"

And the girls were soon giggling and laughing.

"Ooh, I'm going to tease her to death about it " said lily , smiling .

"Say Mare, how did you find out about it anyways?" asked Melina

"I have my sources." She replied airily before breaking into a grin.

"I bumped into her just now and I just remembered to ask her if she had any fun and she smiled and said yes, but she looked rather uncomfortable. So I did the most natural thing. I told her I knew everything and I was kind of shocked that she didn't tell me herself. So, suddenly, she's spilling all the beans." beamed Mary.

"Oh dear Merlin, Mary you are mean. " said Melina shocked.

She grinned in reply before saying "Say whatever you want, if it weren't for me, you would have never found out about it."

"And now, all thanks to you, everyone will find out about it, right?" smirked lily.

Mary rolled her eyes and then giggled.

"Emily and Sirius, sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G"

Others couldn't help laugh and simultaneously they all looked at Sirius before catching each other's eye and giggling again.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Sirius had just finished laying out his plan with interruptions (corrections) from the others

"But what if the fireworks get someone hurt." Remus was asking looking concerned.

Sirius rolled his eyes like he couldn't care less but James sided with Remus.

"Not that I care about anyone getting hurt but it would most certainly ruin the show. If someone gets a burn or something, they would get the entire spotlight and then it will all be a waste." he reasoned.

Peter also agreed saying "the last prank is all about harmless fun, right."

And nodding their heads, the boys got up to start putting their plan into action.

"Hey, Sirius, hey, Wait up." called Emily from the other end of the corridor, running behind him to catch up. He turned around to Emily running towards him. He stopped tapping his foot impatiently. "This better be good, prongs is going to kill me if I am late for Hogsmeade ", he thought. She stopped in front of him presently and she thought he looked rather disgruntled. May be this was a bad idea. No she had to do this. She mentally shook her head trying to clear it, before thinking "Goddammit, where is your Gryffindor courage Emily." She wanted to be a Ravenclaw and now, she calls upon her Gryffindor courage.

"Hey " she started lamely.

"Please tell me you didn't stop me to say hey?" he grumbled.

"Wow, he really is in a bad mood." she cringed.

"Err... It's nothing important, just forget it alright." she said, turning to leave.

"No Emily wait, I am sorry, that was rude. I was just- no that was rude, there's no excuse. So um, I'm guessing you had something in mind." he asked , his tone polite.

"Err... I was wondering about the other day, night. Um" she gulped.

"Want more of me, eh?" He grinned. "Girls just can't resist me."

"What! Oh you're talking about the kiss, I" stuttered Emily.

"Eh, what are you talking about?"

"Same thing actually, except that I don't want more of it. I mean don't get me wrong, it was great and if it were to happen once again, some other time sure, but right now I was - i was just wondering where does that leave us." said Emily hurriedly, looking flustered.

"I don't understand" asked Sirius confused.

"I mean, are we going out or are we not. And if we are not, then is everything ok, like between us. I hate awkward situations." explained Emily, cooling herself down and thinking wryly how awkward this was.

"Err... I guess I wouldn't mind dating you, now that I think about it. I guess we are together, if that's ok with you, of course." grinned Sirius.

"Sure ok."

"See you later then, " said Sirius before hurrying to meet James and Remus and peter.

(15 minutes later)

"I got a girlfriend"

"Oh dear lord, Sirius, I leave you alone for 15 minutes and this is what you do." said James. Sirius smacked him on the head in response

Remus chuckled before asking "who's it?"

"Yeah who is this girl who needs to get her mental health checked up?" interrupted James.

"Just because you can't get Evans…" said Sirius scowling at James.

"Low blow Pads, low blow." said James nodding his head disappointedly

"It's that chick, Vance."

And he continues to narrate everything. The rest of the week passed rather amiably and lazily. One Thursday the results for the exams were out (except for O.W.L.s and N.E. results, which would arrive during the summers). Later that day, everyone was busy packing up and collecting their various belongings which had scattered way too much over the year and returning the borrowed items. Later that evening, everyone turned up for the last feast right in time. Great hall was filled to its capacity with students wearing their black top hats. Dumbledore rose and cleared his throat.

"Students, I will gladly let you go back to your marvelous dinners but there are certain matters that need to be dealt with." he began, his eyes sparkling. "Another wonderful year has passed and another wonderful batch of students will be leaving next year, another batch of students will join us. It's a vicious cycle, really. And tomorrow we will say goodbye for two months, but right now, the most important thing is the house cup. Points need to be awarded and a house needs to be rewarded. And so, we have in the last place - Ravenclaw with 360 points. In the third place, we have Slytherins with 398 points. In the second place, we have Gryffindor with 415 points and finally we have the winners of the house cup, Hufflepuffs with 457 points. Congratulations on another wonderful year. "

A din broke out at this. Everyone cheered and clapped even though some of them did it reluctantly. But an even greater din broke out, for suddenly there was a loud popping sound behind Professor sprouts chair. She jumped, startled. And before anyone knew what was happening, in the middle of the great hall, the stars from the ceiling above started raining down. Very rapidly, they formed the image of professor sprout. While this was happening, a pop came up behind professor Flitwick who was sitting on the other end of the table. The entire hall watched, astonished. By now, the image of professor sprout had been completely formed and stood behind the real professor. And slowly, tightly choreographed, images of every teacher formed and stood behind their respective real versions. Lastly, there was final pop, and the image of professor Dumbledore was formed.

The image walked slowly and stood behind the real person and for a split second, everyone in the hall waited. Then, just before, chaos could resume, professor Dumbledore's image smiled and waved and behind the teachers, all the images disintegrated. They were replaced by fireworks. Loud fireworks right behind the teachers. Filch was going to be mental. Everyone started clapping and it was a rather wonderful way to end the year. Though it was never declared officially, everyone knew it was the marauders and they got many slaps on their backs.

And before they knew, another school year had come to an end. The next morning, everyone ran around trying to fit in something last moment in their trucks or making plans to meet during the summers. Soon it was 11, among the chaos, it seemed like time had flown really fast. That was the thing and it seemed true for every year. No matter how much we try for the last day to be long enough to remember it all, everything is chaos and it goes away before we realize that it gone. The train journey disappeared and soon lily found herself on the platform making plans with the girls to remain in touch over the summers.

"but guys, I don't have an owl, so you all will have to send me the first letter." Mary was saying.

"Me too, though Mary I will call you " said lily.

"Say lils, what is your address?" asked Saffi.

"Why do you want to know?" asked lily narrowing her eyes in suspicion.

"Muggle studies assignment. Try and use the Muggle post." answered Saffi, not meeting her eye. Melina looked confused and started to say something when Saffi trod on the foot.

"Shit, Saffi. What was that? "

"What!" she replied innocently.

Lily quickly wrote down her address and noticing her parents, said quick goodbyes to all.

Later that week, lily remembered her year happily and thought that it was not perfect, but it had been fun all the same.

There was clap of thunder and the lightning flashed through the night. It was raining heavily, terribly and quite early in the season. The wind was harsh and to go out would be insanity. Trees were swaying and the feeble ones were threatening to fall down. In the terrible weather, a young man with black hair and a sad, savage look on his eyes was struggling with a huge trunk as he walked through the night, fighting the wind. He looked around blindly, trying to find a particular house and finally found what he was looking for. Climbing up the front steps, he knocked loudly. Once, twice, a third time before the door finally opened.

"What the- ? "

_**Author's note**__**:**__ So, how was it? Did you like it? I know I said a smaller chapter and ended up writing just as big one, actually this one is bigger, but I couldn't help it. I know this chapter was pretty much pointless but I need one such chapter for character building and to lighten the atmosphere in general. And yes, that was my attempt at a cliff hanger. Did it work? Do review (gosh that almost rhymed)._

_Reviews are better than snogging Sirius Black.__  
__Writer._


	4. Surprises

**_Note from the Author_** : _Hey there you all. So, um... i have no idea why i am putting up this note except- DO REVIEW , please. pretty please. i really want to know if anyone reads it or not. Now i remember i left you all ( attempted to) with a cliffhanger. So i wont hold you up. Go on then, read ahead. _**  
**

_**Disclaimer** : Rowling owns everything except the chocolate bar i am currently eating.  
_

_**Previously ****: **Lily and snape are no longer friends. James is worried about him and lily but on remus's advice, he leaves her alone. Sirius is dating Emily who shares a dorm with lily. The marauders played a final harmless prank , ending the term on a happy note. Summer Holidays are going on...Aaand thats what you missed on Glee. ( sorry i just had to do that ).  
_

**3. Surprises.**

_"The capacity for friendship is God's way of apologizing for our families." - Jay McInerney_

There was clap of thunder and the lightening flashed through the night. it was raining heavily, terribly and quite early in the season. The wind was harsh and to go out would be insanity. trees were swaying and the feeble ones were threatening to fall down. In the terrible weather, a young man with black hair and a sad, savage look on his eyes was struggling with a huge trunk as he walked through the night, fighting the wind. he looked around blindly, trying to find a particular house and finally found what he was looking for. climbing up the front steps, he knocked loudly. Once , twice, a third time before the door finally opened.

" What the- ? "

" Mate can i come in, its fucking raining out here"

* * *

James potter was having a rather usual evening with his parents. They were sitting in the lounge sipping coffee while james narrated his day to his parents. His best friends - Remus, peter and Sirius - had come over while his parents were at work.

" And that is why Peter decided that he preferred raspberry jam over marmalade and truth to be told, i don't think i can ever look at marmalade in the same way again. " he grinned finishing his story.

" What about you both ? how was your day ? " he started to ask when there was a roar of thunder outside.

"what is with the weather today ? " complained Mr. Potter. " isn't summer all about heat and sweat. its raining. " he added. Charlus Potter had the same hair as James, sticking up in odd directions , except his were turning grey. He was tall and lanky with brown eyes that seemed never ending.

Maria Potter had hazel eyes and blonde hair and a beautiful smile. She turned to her husband to answer his question, " Maybe it's just one of those early rains. i bet tomorrow will be so hot and sweaty , you will be longing for this rain."

" Hmph, may be. i don't mind the rains, its just unusual . ", he answered.

" Look at you too, discussing weather like couples do on first dates. " Chuckled James.

" Oh no son, you don't wan me to discuss dates and girls and couples with you. " retorted Mrs. Potter.

James rolled his eyes in response. He wasn't awkward discussing girls with his parents, though there never had been any. Before his 3rd year at hogwarts, his mum had spent the vacation drilling his head on ' How to be a Gentlemen '. He was going to mention this we he heard a knock on the door.

" Was that a knock on the door? " He asked, frowning.

" I don't think so. who would go out in this weather " replied his father

James nodded, not completely satisfied. Knock. There it was again. this time all the three potters heard it. James got up to check the door, his parents right behind him. Knock . Damn, who was it?

James hurried further and opened the door and peered out to find the silhouette of his best friend staring at him. Rain drops were dripping through his hair and he looked furious. he had a trunk beside him and his wand clutched in his hand.

" What the- ?"

" Mate can i come in, its fucking raining out here"

James nodded mutely and allowed him inside. His mother was right behind him and seeing sirius in that manner, she immediately rushed to the kitchen and poured out a large mug of tea. Meanwhile James had dragged Sirius' trunk inside and his father had dried him and made him sit on the couch.

" Here" James heard his mother as he entered the room. she was offering Sirius a cup of tea.

"Thanks " he whispered and drank his tea as the potters settled themselves on either side of him, waiting patiently for an explanation. However sirius was lost in his own thoughts and it seemed a full fledged war was raging inside his head. Finally Maria broke the silence.

" Sirius, are you going to stay the night ? Because i need to make arrangements, get an extra room cleaned out and everything " she said softly.

" Oh Mrs. Potter i'm sorry. i wouldn't want to cause you trouble. i will leave now. " , he said , getting up.

" And where will you go ? " Asked James worried.

" I .. er... um " Sirius opened his mouth and closed it. He once again tried to open it but james interrupted him.

"Honestly mate, i am not going to let you go out in this weather and all by yourself. " he said , slightly annoyed.

" but prongs , i "

" Honestly mate, you think i am that bad as a friend. " gasped james, faux horrified.

Sirius couldn't help but smile. "Thanks " he said, smiling sadly.

" No worries padfoot . Now mom, can i invite sirius for a sleepover. " he asked, addressing the last statement to his mother. His mom, who had been listening to their conversation smiled and asked the house elf to clean up an extra room.

" What ! No, sirius will stay in my room. " he said turning to his mom.

" No not tonight. He needs rest and if two of you are together in the same room, it is never going to happen. " she said firmly . Beckoning sirius to follow her and asking james to carry his trunk, she went up the stairs and showed him an empty room. " Make yourself comfortable, darling. " she said , leaving him to his thoughts. " And come down and talk to us if you want to. " she added.

Sirius nodded mutely and as the door shut softly behind him, he lied down on his bed and cried. Tears fell down his cheeks faster than ever before and he cried for everything he had witnessed that night, the good and the bad. The love and the hate. And slowly, he cried himself to sleep.

* * *

" Good Morning !" cried Ilsa Evans happily as she barged into her daughter's room. She was determined to make her daughter get out of the house today. She had been home for a week since her school got over and though she was initially pretty excited, boredom had eventually settled had told her about her fall out with her best friend , which made things worse, when she came home crying one day. she had gone to the playground to play and get away from her mom, who was nagging her to play and do summer things. There she had met Severus snape, the boy who had replaced tuney in her younger daughter's life . Now , she refused to leave the house for the fear of running into him. Honestly, these girls were going to turn all her hair grey.

" lily, wake up. "

"ggasdhfh " replied her sleepy daughter, which she translated as - Go away. Yes, the love she received as a mother was overwhelming.

" Lily, get up . I have to leave for office and i refuse to leave the responsibility of the house in one sleeping daughter's hands. Get up." she said once again, moving around the room to open the curtains and letting the light in.

" Aagh! " lily whined as she got up, while Mrs. Evans smiled in success.

" Where is petunia? " lily asked, cross with her mother.

" She has gone out but will be back in sometime. I suggest you have your breakfast and do not sleep. " smiled Ilsa as she gave her daughter a peck on the cheek before running out for work.

Grumbling to herself, lily set around making her breakfast when Petunia entered the house, singing to herself.

" Why are you so happy ? " asked lily curiously.

" Nothing can ever make me sad. Vernon asked me out on a date. " She smiled at her sister, the best she had been around her.

" Well, he is your boyfriend. " lily pointed out. Petunia started to reply but just then the bell rang. She got up to open the door and found herself face to face with -

* * *

Slam. The door shut loudly as sirius woke up groggily. " Damn, where was he ? " he thought dazed when the previous night's events came rushing back to him. He got up and got dressed and made his way he entered the room, he found the potters were already there. Mr. Potter was reading the paper while mrs. potter seemed to be scolding james for slamming the doors all over the house. So it was him, thought sirius.

As he approached the breakfast table, all three of them looked up at him. " um.. good morning. " he said warily.

"good morning" Maria beamed at him, as she started serving him breakfast. " What would you prefer for lunch sirius ? "

" Lunch, i won't stay for lunch. i . " he started to say when mr. potter cut him off.

" Sirius, son, this was decided last night. You are staying here till you sort out whatever it is that you need to sort out. and when you stay with the potters , you have lunch with the potters. "

" Thank you. I , i owe you all an explanation. you have been so wonderful about everything " He said before launching into an explanation.

" Yesterday , when i got back home from here, my mother ( he spat the last word in contempt ) was in my room. She was trying to remove all the gryffindor banners and pictures of those girls from it, but she couldn't. ( he smirked at the memory ). As i went in my room, she insisted i remove them. i refused. She threatened to curse me and ground me. i knew she was bluffing. Even if she was not, i would have ran away and then she couldn't have stopped and i told her so. She got even more angry and we started fighting, as usual. At that moment , Berathy came there. Mother knew i wouldn't want her to be hurt, even if she was dumb and followed mother's policy of pure blood. And so mother threatened to kill her if i ran away and then asked her to remove all my posters and clean my room. You know elves have their special from of magic. But even she couldn't remove the posters. And mother decided to punish her - " sirius choked at this point , his face gruesomely twisted. " She killed her, chopped her head and hung it in the passage ", he whispered.

" i couldn't take it anymore, i couldn't . The cruelty , the hatred, it was too much. i was going to fight her when uncle Alphard stopped me. She said that if i wanted to be in her house, i needed to be a black. I was done. i had enough. i told her i didn't want be a black. i ran away from that vile place. " he completed.

The potters looked at each other as he finished.

James got up and said , " About time mate, now shall we unpack your stuff or should we call remus and wormtail and go out ? "

* * *

" Hello! Are you tuney? We have heard so much about you, it is almost as if we know each other, although the things i know - "

" Shut it , Melina " called mary from behind her, silencing her with a frown. " sorry, she is just excited about meeting her friend" she added to petunia who stood with her mouth open.

" Who is it , tuney ? " came a voice from inside the house.

" Oh, so this is the Evans residence, good . " sighed Mary before putting up a forced smile in the direction of Petunia's scowl.

" Oh my Merlin's shaggy Y-fronts ! Whatareyoualldoinghere ? " screamed lily , who had come up behind petunia to see who was it. Petunia angrily turned at her sister to tell her off. " don't scream like a baby lily, it's just your fre- friends. " she said coldly, before grabbing her purse and storming out. 4 girls were left staring at her , before they turned to each other and and hugged and smiled and were ushered in.

" So what are you guys doing here " said lily happily, who was smiling from ear to ear.

" we came to rescue you ofcourse " said saffi in a matter of fact tone. When lily raised her eyebrow in response, Melina explained for her.

" we knew from your last letter that you had barely left the house for the fear of meeting snape again."

" In which case, you were stuck with your hideous sister ( no offence ) . " continued mary.

" so, i repeat , we came as rays of sunshine in this dark, gloomy world of yours, my damsel . " smirked saffi.

Lily grinned one more time before giving them a quick tour of the house and seating them in her bedroom.

" so how did you find my house ? you've never been here before, you don't have the address either " she said , before realization dawned and she narrowed her eyes at saffi. " you lied to me. "

"honestly, lily you really thought that would be my muggle studies assignment. i only wish. no i have terrible essays to write about how muggles live and survive and how their lives will be affected during these dark days. " shaking her head , she got out off her trance and looked at lily once again, " besides if had revealed my real intentions, you would have never told me your address. "

" you know me too well, don't you ." sighed lily happily

"we have spent 5 years with you love " replied mary smiling.

" So, whats the plan for today?" asked Melina.

* * *

" we could go to diagon alley or we could stay at my house , once again. " said James , as four boys sat in the potter's living room , making plans for the day.

" If we go to diagon alley, we will have to do it the muggle way. I am sure you and sirius are more than capable of apparating but i refuse to allow you all." said remus firmly.

" ah! I have missed prefect moony " replied Sirius lazily from where he was sprawled on the floor.

" how can you have , we just met yesterday. " replied Remus.

" but to spend one night away from you , moony my love, it was unbearable. Oh, how my heart grieved and longed for you, you have no idea. " he said, making kissing noises in the air.

" git " muttered remus as Sirius grinned and flashed him a smile that the girls at Hogwarts lived for.

" i say, how about we explore Godric's Hollow. " suggested Peter. " i mean, we do not want to visit diagon alley because we need to go the muggle way and i don't want to stay in the house once again. "

"Well, that's a brilliant idea wormy. " grinned James.

It was a bright day and after the previous night's unseasonable rain shower, none of the teenagers wanted to stay in when they could be basking in the sunlight.

Somewhere miles away from Godric's hollow, in lily evans bedroom, four girls were getting ready. Rather lily was getting ready while the other three watched.

" so, i heard emily is dating sirius. "called Mary as lily went in the bathroom.

" we know, you told us before . " lily called back.

" hmm.. and er, Richard Grunt is getting laid, by Ira Paulp. " said Mary again, who could be trusted to have gossip and a new date every week.

" what , but i thought he was dating Dorothy jones. " said lily as she appeared from the bathroom in a casual summer dress - white t-shirt and jeans.

" he is, " grinned Mary .

" ooh.. i didn't know that. " said Melina.

" ooh.. i don't know why you needed to know that. " said saffi sarcastically.

" what !" she added as her 3 friends stared at her. " i am not interested in gossip and i disapprove it. " she said.

" Well, deal with it because Mary is filling me up on it. " said Melina as she turned to mary.

" Isn't he a year older than us ?" asked lily.

" Yup, going to be in his seventh year now. " said Mary.

" Well, he is going to have a tough time dealing with two girls and N.E.W.T.s " said lily sensibly but changing the topic for Saffi's sake, she said. " i'm ready. We can leave now. "

" oh good. " said saffi as they went downstairs. Lily scribbled a quick note for her mom and locked the door.

* * *

_**Note from that annoying person who writes this stuff**__** :**__ So , er.. how was it? should i do another small chapter on the vacations? ( i think i will ). could you send in a few reviews. Even something like- i read your fanfic. would be hugely appreciated. Also you might have noticed that the jily moments are super low, well i am trying to make it a marauders era + jily fanfic , so you won't find lots of them. I warn before hand. If you are not interested, i suggest you to not read ahead. _

_Now please do review. _


	5. Results and Returning back

_**Note from the Author **: I started writing this chapter the instant i finished the last one because i can't wait to get the holidays done and over with. Hogwarts is much better. Not true about real life though. I love summers in the muggle world. Now that's enough chit-chat. you know what you're supposed to do- Review. _

_**To the reviewers : **_

_**Random Person : **Thanks a lot for the review. you are the reason i felt like typing out this chapter. good to know someone reads this stuff. _

_**Credits**_:_ Everything awesome belongs to Rowling. _

**_Previously: _**_Sirius ran away from his house when his mother killed the house elf. Mary, Melina and Saffi go over at lily's house to surprise her. Vacations are still going on. _

**4. Results and Returning Back**

_Returning was a weird thing. You can never visit the same place twice. Each time, it's a different story. By the very act of coming back, you wipe out what came before." - Maureen Johnson_

Tap. tap. tap.  
" Go away! " grumbled a half asleep Mary.

Knock. Knock. Knock.  
" Its hardly morning " muttered Melina, half asleep.

Bang. Something had slammed itself against lily's window.  
"Ugh... " she muttered as stumbled to the window.

" Saffi, you've got mail. " cried Mrs. Lovato from the kitchen downstairs.  
Saffi simply turned around and fell asleep once again.

" Charlus, why don't you go wake the boys up... their letters are here. " Maria asked her husband.

Paul Dwindt was running in the backyard of his house. He had been at it since half an hour and was now tired, but still not distracted.

Peter was staring at his breakfast poking it with his fork, his face pale as his porridge.

Emily tossed and turned and sat up. She decided to take a long shower. She was going to need one to calm her down.

Remus Lupin was anxiously pacing around in his room. He had been up for three hours and it was hardly eight in the morning. He couldn't go back to sleep after his nightmare, not till he found out his real marks. He couldn't sleep thinking about failing all his subjects.

He had spent the past few weeks either at james's house or by himself , curled up and reading a book. But now, the moment of truth was near. today was the day his results would be declared. O.W.L.S results were going to be declared today. He was definitely scared. He would never admit it to anyone, but he needed his friends to ask him to stop worrying. He needed Sirius to tell him that he would be fine and he needed james to say that it were just a grade on a paper. He needed to look at peter's face, worried for himself. He needed to vent. He gave up pacing his room and went to the desk to look for a parchment and to write a letter when he heard a tap. He froze where he was bent over the desk and slowly turned around. Sure enough , an owl was tapping on his window. He rushed to the window and let it in. It was one of the Hogwarts owls. It dropped the letter on his bed and flew out. Remus gulped before slowly opening the letter. He quickly glanced through it before sighing in relief. What followed was a huge grin and whoop and another sigh of satisfaction. He had received an O in DADA, Transfiguration , Charms , Herbology , Ancient Runes , Astronomy, and Care of Magical Creatures. Also exceeds expectations in Potions, History of Magic and Divination. He was happy. He didn't care about the last two subjects, they hardly mattered for Auror studies but he was hoping to get a better grade in potions. He was dejected for a moment before he remembered his other marks and he could stop but smile.

* * *

tap. tap. tap.  
" Go away! " grumbled a half asleep Mary.

finally, unable to concentrate, she woke up to yell at the source of that noise when she saw a brown owl tapping at her window. As soon as she opened the window, the owl left the letter on her desk and flew away. She looked at the Hogwarts crest stamped on the letter and at her calender where the date for the results had been marked. And then she screamed , sleep far away.

* * *

Knock. Knock. Knock.  
" Its hardly morning " muttered Melina, half asleep.

"Melina dear, aren't your results due today. " her mother muttered softly through the door.

"hm.. yes" she said before the word really sunk in her half asleep brain. Her eyes shot open and she looked at the time. The owl would be around anytime. How could she have forgotten.

* * *

Bang. Something had slammed itself against lily's window.

"Ugh... " she muttered as stumbled to the window. Who banged themselves to people's windows , she thought incoherently. " hoot "

Owls, obviously. as she opened the window, she recognized the familiar Hogwarts owl who gave her , her letter every year.

" shit! "

* * *

" Saffi, you've got mail. " cried Mrs. Lovato from the kitchen downstairs.

Saffi simply turned around and fell asleep once again.

" Saffi, its from Hogwarts" cried her mom once again.

" ghdfhlwikd " she thought as she appeared on the top of the stairs , her eyes puffy and hair looking like birds had nested in them.

"you have a letter . " Her mom said looking at her, a letter in her hand.

" Oh My. For the love of merlin's stinking left sock, mom you could've have told me earlier. its my results. " she said as she rushed down and snatched the letter to open it. Mrs. Lovato smiled and shook her head towards her daughter before returning to the kitchens.

* * *

" Charlus, why don't you go wake the boys up, their letters are here. " Maria asked her husband.

Mr. Potter nodded and went to wake up the boys.

" James, sirius, your letter from hogwarts are here. "

" We'll open it later. " Mumbled James, his head burried in the pillow.

" you better hurry. Remus just mailed to say he got 8 owls and exceeds expectations in two subjects. He wants you to reply pronto. " said Mrs. Potter as she came up behind her husband.

" If it is moony, we need to get up. He never can sit still on result day. " said sirius rubbing his eyes as he sat up.

* * *

Paul Dwindt was running in the backyard of his house. He had been at it since half an hour and was now tired, but still not distracted. Finally he decided to return to his house where he found his mother waiting impatiently for him. He pointed at the kitchen table where his letter lay. He prayed mentally as he opened the envelope. He was another fifth year gryffindor, now to be in his sixth year. He shared the dormitory with remus, peter, james and sirius. He was athletic but couldn't outdo James at quidditch. He was good looking, but nothing compared to Sirius. He was innocent but lacked the cuteness peter had. He was shy and polite but it was remus' mysterious attitude that was appealing. He was good but never great. The only thing he shined at was Academics.

He let go of a breath he had been holding in as he smiled at his mother. " All Os " he whispered.

* * *

Peter was staring at his breakfast poking it with his fork, his face pale as his porridge. Besides him lay his letter, but he didn't want to open it. He was scared. He doubted he would get at brilliant marks as his friends. Finally he decided to do it quickly, like ripping away a bandaid. He opened the letter quickly, almost tearing his mark sheet in his hurry. After a quick scan, he sighed. Not great , Not bad.

* * *

Emily tossed and turned and sat up. She decided to take a long shower. She was going to need one to calm her down. As she emerged from the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her hair , she saw a letter on her bed. She braced herself before opening it and glancing through her grades.

" Sweet Merlin "

* * *

" Hey guys, were you waiting for long ? " asked Lily as she spotted her friends waiting for her at the leaky cauldron. They had all received their owls that morning and had made plans to shop for the next year together in the diagon alley. They had planned to meet after lunch but lily, being the one to use Muggle transport, was ended up late.

" Hardly, i just arrived. " said saffi smiling at her. After a quick exchange of results and several pats on backs, they entered the diagon alley. As the girls went around buying various supplies, they chatted , catching up on stuff.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the diagon alley three boys were looking for their friend.

" where is sirius ? " sighed remus.

They were too buying their supplies when sirius had suddenly disappeared.

" we should split up and look for him. Buy any supplies along the way if we need to. Meet up at Leaky cauldron in half an hour to complete whatever shopping is left. " suggested James.

" I'll go there " said peter, pointing in a general direction and walking away. James walked backed the way they had come from while remus turned in another direction. This sirius was going to be the death of him, he thought. Looking around, he spotted a familiar face. He smiled and tapped her from behind.

" If it isn't the lovely lady who got me an O in potions. " smiled remus at lily who had turned around.

" Remus ! " she squealed , giving him a hug and smiling at him. " Ladies. " he greeted the others.

" do you happen to spot sirius black. ? " he asked them smiling politely.

As Mary and Melina giggled, saffi rolled her eyes. Lily also smiled but explained to remus, " we just saw him this close " she brought her index finger and thumb real close together " with Emily Vance. "

" oh, that ass is getting a kick from me. " he said furious. " Where did you say you saw him? "

As lily pointed in a direction, he bid his goodbyes and congratulated them on marvelous marks.

Nearly two hours later, the girls went back to the leaky cauldron to fight a lot of noise. Two boys were standing on the table dancing with jugs of butter beer while Tom the bartender looked worried. Lily spotted remus standing away from the noise, eyeing it warily.

" hey " she said standing beside him as her friends tried to get a better view of things.

" Oh, hi lily. " replied Remus.

" Whats going on ? "

" James and Sirius behaving like asses , as usual. I'm just worried they will acknowledge me any moment now and i will die of embarrassment . "

As lily giggled, the crowd made a sad noise indicating that the show was over.

" looks like they are coming here now. " said remus.

" Thats my cue to leave " said lily , edging away .

" hey, don't leave me like that . " said Remus in faux desperation.

Lily smiled and waved as sirius and James appeared behind remus.

" Was that lily? " asked james, his eyes still on her back.

" yup. "

"James, mate you are not going to propose her again. You remember what we said last year. Stop reeking of desperation. " said sirius.

" I don't reek of desperation. you do, the guy was ditched his friends to snog his girlfriend. " replied james though all the same, he thought it would be a tough year, trying to control himself around lily Evans.

" come on, guys. I have a curfew" said peter appearing. And nodding the boys left the leaky cauldron, making plans for the next day. the rest of the vacations passed usually, with sixth years sending letter to and fro and staying in touch.

Finally it was September first, time to go back to Hogwarts.

" Hogwarts , hogwarts , hoggy warty hogwarts " sang lily as she got dressed and got ready. Her trunk was packed, her wand was in pocket and her robes were in her carry bag, which she would change into on the train. She hurried with her break fast and before she knew it, she was kissing her parents goodbye.

She pushed her trunk into a compartment and settled down. Her friends would find her soon enough. She sat contently watching everyone on the platform. Far away she saw Paul Dwindt clutching his broom stick smiling at his mother. Some distance away Richard Grunt was talking seriously with Dorothy jones waving his arms all around. Standing away from them was Ira Paulps, looking their direction. Lily shook her head as she realized what would be going on.

On the other side, Remus lupin was emerging through the smoke looking sick as usual. Standing behind the crowd, lily spotted snape looking sullen and downcast. She shook her head and forced herself to look away from him. Then the compartment door opened and saffi entered and lily smiled and both girls started talking. At some point , the train whistled and the engine and they were going back to Hogwarts.

* * *

**_Authors__ note:_**_So, how was it. Glad the vacations are over? Cause i am. I was tired of shifting between James and Lily time. And i couldn't focus well enough on some of the other characters. Besides, it ain't fun without Hogwarts. By the way, Richard Grunts is a little bit important to the story line, so deal with him and his obnoxiousness_.

_So it is nearly midnight, i have been typing for two hours straight. Writer need her beauty sleep. Good night all. And don't forget to review. _


	6. A New Student

_**Author's note**__:__ So__, I request you all to please ignore the typo's, especially capitalization mistakes. On my part, I promise to keep them to minimum. Also, I promise to work on my any case, I apologize in advance. Keep reading and Thanks for the reviews._

**_To the reviewers__:_**

_**QuidditchQueen :**__I am sorry about the grammar. i can only promise to try my best to keep them less.__  
__**Cookies:**__Will keep in mind about the beta reader part and your other suggestions. Thank you.__  
__**boyfriendofemma :**__Interesting things are to happen soon. I promise. Just keep reading._

_**Ownership: **__All Hail Queen Rowling._

**5. A New Student**

_"A friend may be waiting behind a stranger's face."-__Maya Angelou_

"Oi Potter, Any new pranks up your sleeve."

"Hey Black, your girlfriend's looking for you and she is angry."

"Shit."

"Anyone has seen Remus Lupin?"

James and Sirius were standing on the edge of the door, already changed into their Hogwarts robes. Occasionally people stopped to talk to them or clap them on the back. The air was festive in general, because for a Hogwarts student, to get back to school is a matter of celebration. Everyone was excited to meet their friends and exchange the holiday stories. Everywhere was chaos, people looking for their friends. The first years stood at the edge timidly looking down, hoping to be ignored. Yet their curiosity made them look up and look around.

One elder student, Severus Snape, was doing the same. He stood in the shadows, hoping not to be noticed while he looked for someone. He was hidden well in the smoke emerging from the engine. Hidden in the smoke was another student, Remus Lupin, who looked sick, which he probably was.

"Hey, look James, there is Moony." said Sirius pointing towards his friend. As James eyes searched for Lupin, they fell on Snape standing in the corner.

"What is he doing here?" he muttered suspiciously.

"Believe it or not, he goes to school here." said Sirius who had followed James' line of vision.

"I'm going to welcome him. Coming?" asked James, mischief glinting in his eyes.

Sirius grinned and followed his friend. They snooped around till they were hiding behind the pillar, right behind Snape. As they were debating on the best way to scare him, they heard a voice whispering -

"Are you sure no one can hear us?"

Both James and Sirius recognized it as the voice of Rodolphus Lestrange, a seventh year slytherin. They inched closer trying to listen carefully.

"If you speak at this volume, even I won't be able to hear you." Snape was saying.

Rodolphus grunted before continuing a little loudly -

"Listen Snape, I want the work done and I want to know that I can trust you. This is serious stuff."

"I know the plan Lestrange and I am prepared. Now, just tell me when and whom."

"Before the week comes to end."

"Whom?" asked Snape again.

"Any mudblood of your choice, take your pick" he said before winking at him and walking away.

Behind the pillar, Sirius and James stood waiting unsure of what to do. They didn't want to leave now and risk getting caught by Snape. On the other hand, Snape didn't look like he was going to be moving anytime soon.

"We are going to miss the train" whispered Sirius looked worried and considering making a run for it when Snape looked up and spotted something and walked away.

"Phew! Thank goodness he left." said Sirius as they dashed back to their compartment, at the end of the train, and climbed on just as the train started. James leaned out of the door and looked in the direction that Snape had been looking at, while Sirius went inside the compartment and greeted Remus and Peter.

"Moony! Wormy! I have missed you both so much." he exclaimed dramatically as Peter grinned at him while Remus rolled his eye, the corners of his mouth twitching.

"Remus, how are you? Still feeling sick." asked Peter worriedly.

"I'm alright. Nothing the school feast can't fix." he smiled before asking Sirius, "Where's James?"

"He was right behind me. Hang on, I'll get him." he said getting up and going out of the compartment.

As the train was moving slowly, James heard a voice behind him.

"Shit. Fuck. Damn it."

He turned to see a girl running with a large trunk, trying to catch up with the train. Instinctively, he offered his hand to girl.

"Can you catch the trunk?" she yelled at him. As soon as he nodded, she threw it at him with unexpected force. Being the best chaser of his year, James managed to catch it before the trunk broke his face.

Sirius came out of the compartment to find James struggling with a huge trunk. He hurried forward and took the trunk from his arms, keeping explanations for later. Sirius struggled and pushed the trunk into their compartment, while James held his hand out once again, which the girl took. In one leap, using the door handle for momentum she tumbled inside the compartment and fell on the top of James. She stood up shakily and clutched her stomach, gasping for breath. James watched her as Sirius re-entered the corridor.

"Thanks." she gasped finally. Holding out her hand, she said, "I'm -"

"Alissa." interjected Sirius.

"How do you know?" she asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes at him.

"I just know stuff." replied Sirius airily while Alissa continued to glare at him.

"How do you know, Sirius?" James asked curiously.

Sirius sighed loudly before breaking into a grin and saying, "It was on her trunk." Alissa stared at him and then started looking around for her trunk.

"Where is my trunk?" she asked her hand inside her pocket.

"Somewhere." replied Sirius cheekily.

Things happened very suddenly. Alissa had backed away from James and Sirius and pulled out her wand. She was glared at the pair of them before speaking in a trembling voice, "Where is my trunk?"

"Whoa!" said James backing away from her and pulling out his own wand.

"Hey, no need for wands." said Sirius. "It is in our compartment." he said.

"Why? Were you stealing?" she asked furiously.

Sirius stared incredulously at her before replying angrily, "No! Everywhere else is full. You would have to sit with us anyways. God, lady, we were just trying to help you. May be you should try saying thanks instead of accusing us."

And with that he turned and stormed away into the marauder's compartment.

Alissa sighed loudly and sat on the floor, her face in her hands.

"Alissa, I'm James." said James firmly, unsure of how to deal with her.

She looked up gratefully.

"Thank you. And I'm sorry." James nodded and went into his compartment to greet Remus and Peter.

10 minutes later, Alissa entered the compartment. She stood at the door uncertainly before saying in a subdued manner, "I needed my trunk."

Sirius and James nodded and Remus smiled at her. James and Sirius had previously filled them up on the incident. Once inside, she sat down opposite James and Sirius.

"I'm sorry." she said. When they didn't respond, Remus said kindly, his eyes twinkling.

"That is an odd name." Alissa looked at him confused but Peter explained grinning, "Sorry is an odd name. Why would your parents name you sorry?"

Then, she broke into a grin and gave a short barking laugh before turning serious once again.

"I'm Alissa." she said to Remus and Peter.

"And I am sorry I jumped at your throats before. I am from Durmstrang. "She continued." On my first day there, my trunk was stolen and I was hexed, because the seniors felt like it. "She said looking disgusted. The marauders exchanged glances and shifted uncomfortably in their seats, but she didn't notice.

"It is my first year, here at Hogwarts. It's no excuse but I couldn't help it. I am sorry." she finished.

"It's okay", said James. "This is Sirius, Remus, Peter and of course, you know me, I'm James."

"Hang on, why does she know you?" asked Sirius childishly. "You are not all that famous mate."

"Oh, you don't know it Sirius, but I Am." said James puffing out his chest.

Alissa laughed at the before settling down.

"So, you're Sirius."

"Oh no, don't get started on my name." he whined and she giggled.

"You will be dead soon if you don't meet Emily." Remus reminded him.

"Uff, girlfriends are complicated." he complained.

"You have been together for barely two months" Remus chided but Sirius waved him away. "No offence" he added to Alissa.

"None taken." she grinned at him. "I agree with you, they are tough."

"You look like you have experience." said Sirius cheekily but Alissa didn't get mad.

"May be" was all she said.

Sirius stared at her before walking out of the compartment to meet Emily. Alissa dived into her trunk and fished out a book and started reading. James and Peter played exploding snap while Remus went for his prefect meeting.

* * *

"Shit" lily exclaimed suddenly. She was so busy chatting with her friends, she had lost complete track of time. "Shit!" she exclaimed again while her friends looked at her confusedly. "I'm late." She said before getting up and running outside. She ran frantically through the corridors, glancing at her watch and pushing people out of the way. As she was one coach away from the prefect's compartment at the front of the train, she bumped into someone, who fell on the floor.

"Whoa! Lily, where's the fire." asked Remus Lupin as he stood up from the floor, rubbing himself.

"Oh! Remus, thank Merlin I am not late." She cried before getting up herself and the two of them walked towards the prefect's compartment. Two hours and one meeting later, she walked out with Remus when a voice stopped her.

"Hey lily, wait up." said Caradoc Dearborn from across the room. She gestured Remus to go on.

"Hey" he said making his way through and smiling at lily. "Thanks for waiting."

"Sure", she smiled. Although he was a year older, he was nice company during the tedious prefect meetings, especially the previous year, when the head girl was a slytherin.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" she asked the hufflepuff as they walked out of the compartment.

"Err… right. Say, will you go out with me?" he asked keeping his head down.

"Don't your shoes always go out with you?" replied lily, smirking. Caradoc looked up and grinned at her.

"I meant will you, Lily Evans, give me the honor of being your boyfriend and taking you out on a date." He asked, much more confidently. Lily gulped at the situation. She hated rejecting people.

"How about we try with date?" she finally said, her eyes twinkling."Let us see how that work outs. Then we can decide if we want to be together."

"Oh okay, I guess we could to that." said Caradoc, slightly downcast.

Lily smiled and waved and decided to leave before she got herself in a stickier situation.

"I may have a boyfriend." She announced as she entered her compartment.

"May? Either you have one or you don't, there is no 'may'." said Saffi looking up from her book.

"Why are you reading the transfiguration text-book? You hate that subject." Said lily, momentarily distracted.

"Because"

"Because what?"

"These two are gossiping. "She said in a huff. Lily smiled and shook her head knowingly.

"Why transfiguration, you like charms better, don't you?" she said.

Saffi gave her a look that said 'can you get any more stupid.'

"I need to work on it."

"Okay."

"So, lily, Explain the whole 'may have a boyfriend' part." Said Mary excitedly, interrupting Lily and Saffi.

And Lily proceeded to tell her conversation with Caradoc.

In the mean time, Hogwarts express had sped up and they were soon arriving at Hogsmeade station.

"Firs' years, over here, ove' here. ", came a familiar booming noise as Alissa stepped out of the train.

"Hey, Alissa, you should go talk to Hagrid, that's him. Since it is your first year at Hogwarts." Said Peter before scuttling away to join the others.

Alissa nodded and called out a thank you towards Peter before rushing off towards Hagrid.

In the meantime Lily was having a huge row with James. She was about to climb into a carriage with her friends when James, who had been walking backwards, waving his hands dramatically towards his friends had bumped into her, pushing her on the ground.

"Oh! Merlin! Ow! Potter, why can't you walk with your eyes open?" she grumbled.

"I had my eyes open actually" he turned and smiled happily. As he offered her his hand, she ignored it and got up herself when she stumbled, lost her balance and fell.

"Bloody Merlin!" she exclaimed while James chided her.

"I did offer you my hand you know, it wouldn't have killed you."

"For all I know, you may have concealed a dung bomb in it." She said, mad for having fallen thrice in the same day and making a fool of herself in front of James Bloody Potter.

As James rolled his eyes and tugged her to her feet, she lost her nerve.

"Oi! What are you doing potter?"

"Helping you get up, of course." He responded slightly annoyed

"I don't need your help. You just need a reason to touch me."

"Call me whatever you want, but Do Not Accuse ME of being a PERVERT." He yelled very angry himself. "You are pretty snobby yourself, rushing into conclusions. I was helping you. You know what Evans, screw yourself, for all I care." He spat, walking away.

Lily stared after him with her mouth open before climbing into a carriage, not wanting to deal with the crowd that had gathered there.

"Bloody Potter! What does he think he is, Merlin? "She grumbled to her friends who ignored her. Finally Saffi said, "Lily, as a friend, it is my duty to tell you, he was right this time. He was just helping you."

Lily stared at her, opening her mouth to argue when she shut it and looked out.

"I should apologize, shouldn't I?" she asked after a while. The others nodded and a rather subdued group arrived at Hogwarts.

Arriving at Hogwarts was another group of first years though they were hardly subdued. They stared with wide eyes and fascination as they looked at Hogwarts. You haven't seen true beauty till you have seen Hogwarts at night, through the eyes of curious first year. As they stepped on the front stairs of the building, the huge doors opened and a teacher, Professor McGonagall, ushered them inside.

The older students had naturally used the carriages and were already seated in the Great hall, eagerly waiting for the feast to begin. There was general buzz of chattering as people discussed various topics. Then everyone fell silent as Professor McGonagall entered with a three-legged stool, an old hat, a bunch of scared first years and one older student.

The Sorting Hat began his song, much to the shock of the first years and finished to a rather loud applause. And the sorting started. Once all of them were sorted, The only one standing beside Professor McGonagall was Alissa Shaw.

"Students, this year we have a transfer from the Durmstrang School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Shaw, Alissa please step forward." said professor McGonagall.

As she sat on the stool and placed the hat over her head, it mused for a moment before announcing loudly, "Gryffindor."

And the feast began. Plates of marvelous food arrived on the table as Alissa shakily headed towards the Gryffindor table.

"Hey, I'm Alissa." She smiled as she sat with a group of girls that seemed of her age.

"Hey Alissa, I'm lily. And these are Saffi, Melina and Mary." A girl replied introducing everyone.

"You will probably share a dormitory with us." She continued when Saffi interrupted, "And Emily."

"Who is Emily?" asked Alissa confused.

"See, that girl at the end of the table, with chestnut-brown hair, that is Emily." said Melina.

"Yeah, she is the prettiest girl of the year and has more dates in a year than lily has had in the past 6 years." supplied Mary, giggling.

Saffi rolled her eyes while Alissa frowned.

"There is nothing wrong with having plenty of dates." She said.

"No there isn't but Emily is - well Emily" said Mary.

"Hey, if you are implying that she is a tart, then you honestly should not. That is extremely judgmental and sides', isn't she dating that weird bloke Sirius Black?"

As Alissa continued to eat and question Mary and Melina, getting to know more about the people at Hogwarts, the main course was replaced by dessert and finally empty plates.

Dumbledore stood up and announced," Time for bed, can't be late for your first day tomorrow. Pip pip." And there was general bustling around of students as Prefects tried to herd them to their respective dormitories. Lily stood up along with Remus asking the first years to follow them. As they crossed the entrance hall, she spotted Sirius, James and Peter loitering near the staircases, climbing lazily.

"Hey Remus, can you handle the first years?" she said and hurried towards them, not waiting for his answer.

"Hey Potter! Potter! James Potter, wait up." She yelled as James continued to climb not listening to her, much to the amusement of the people in the Entrance hall.

"Mate, I Evans is calling." said Sirius.

"Oh stop teasing, Sirius."

"No, I'm Sirius."

James rolled his eyes and snorted while Sirius said, "Shit, you know what I mean."

And sure enough, he turned around to find Lily yelling at him to wait up.

"Good luck Buddy" grinned Sirius before dragging a curious and amused Peter away.

James stepped to a side and waited for her to catch up with him.

"Thanks for waiting up." Gasped lily, for she had run the entire flight of stairs. It was second time that day that a girl had thanked him gasping for breath.

"What do you want, Evans? Got some more names to call me?" He said coldly, ignoring the fact that his heart was beating right out of his chest at the mere thought of her starting a conversation with him.

"If you consider me saying that you're correct as calling names, then yeah."

"Huh!"

"I'm sorry about what happened earlier."

"You mean for calling me a –"

"Hey, I didn't call you anything. I just implied" she said, her voice barely audible at the last word.

"Implied!" he said incredulous.

Lily smiled and shrugged before saying, "I am sorry" with such sincerity that it was not possible to not forgive her.

"It's okay, Evans! I find it in my enormous heart to forgive you."

Lily snorted but held out her hand, "Friends?"

"We were never friends, Evans" said James not believing his eyes. Lily Evans wanted to be friends with him. His heart was doing a jig in his stomach.

"Oh! Truce then" she said, her hand still held out.

"Truce" he replied, mentally cursing himself for passing up the opportunity to be friends.

"See you around, Potter." She said turning away to climb up the stairs when he stopped her.

"Where are you going Evans?"

"The dormitory, of course."

"Come on this way then, there's a shortcut." He said and she followed reluctantly not wanting to break their truce. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Lily couldn't take it anymore.

"So, how were your hols?"

"Bloody brilliant, yours?"

"Good enough."

More awkward silence issued.

"So, how were your OWLs? Aced them all?" began James this time.

"Pretty much, yeah. You?"

"I'm happy."

Then they gave up on small talk and walked uncomfortably. In fact they became so lost in their thoughts, for a moment they forgot the awkwardness of the situation. Anyone else passing through that corridor would have been in for a treat, finding James and lily walking together without bickering.

As they reached the portrait of the fat lady, Lily said the password, "Spanish Potato."

"How long do you think this truce is going to last?" asked James.

"As long as you let it."

"Me! I'm hardly ever the one to start a fight."

"No, you provoke me into starting one."

"Why, I hardly ever."

"Yes, you do. In fact you're doing at this very moment. You know what; I won't be the one to end this truce."

"We'll see Evans, We'll see."

She rolled her eyes and said, "Good night Potter." before climbing up the girls Staircase.

James watched her climb up before entering his own dormitory.

"I'm in love." He declared as he flopped down on his bed.

Sirius snorted while Remus rolled his eyes. Peter sat up straighter and waited for James to launch into his story, which he did.

* * *

**_A/N : _**_So Alissa Shaw. I needed her to create a metaphorical bridge between Lily and the girls and The marauders. you'll see ahead. Was there any improvement in the grammar? because i proofread it several times. Also, in the previous chapter, Lupin got an E in divination Owl, which doesn't make sense because divination was not a subject back then. I realized it later. Did anyone notice?_

_Also, reviews are better than food._

_Lots of love_

_Writer_


	7. The letters from no one

_**A/N: **__ So, I've got another James/Lily fight in this chapter. I know you're wondering why another fight, but if you haven't noticed yet, I want to build up on James/Lily relationship. Make them friends first and then let them fall in love, and that will take some time. It is not going to be just Jily lovey-dovey stuff. If you want lovey-dovey stuff, there are plenty other fan fictions I can recommend (just PM me)._

_Apart from that, I hope you enjoy this one. Cheers._

_**To the reviewers:**_

_**your best friend: **__Thanks a lot. There are twists and turns in the upcoming chapters, don't you worry._

_**Ownership: **__The only hp thing I own is a deathly hallows locket._

**6. The letters from no one**

_"Don't ever call me mad, Mycroft. I'm not mad, I'm just…well, differently moraled, that's all."- Jasper Fforde (The Eyre Affair)_

The first week back at Hogwarts was pretty much uneventful, except for a huge row between James and lily on the first day, in professor Flitwick's class. That was exactly what Mary was saying on Friday morning during breakfast, when a huge owl dropped a letter on her bacon.

On the first day back, Alissa Shaw, the new girl had arrived for charms before anyone else and Lily Evans along with Saffi Lovato had arrived just in time. This was extremely amusing seeing that lily was always on time and Alissa was hardly ever.

Funny or not, Alissa had indeed arrived in time which allowed her to occupy the last seat in classroom. The marauders were a group of four boys, each a different individual. However, when they were together, their most defining characteristic was their talent to get into trouble. While most elders would frown upon it, Youngsters usually have a high amount of respect for such talents. So naturally, the last seats were reserved for the marauders out of respect. It was an unspoken, unwritten rule, which Alissa had unknowingly broken.

Now, the marauders were pretty easy going, which made them more likable. So when James and Sirius lazily strolled in the room, probably at Remus' insistence to not bunk lectures on first day, and realized that one of their seats was occupied, they decided to get themselves another seat. Who after all, gets into a fight over a seat? They were not first years anymore, were they. This was also funny, seeing that James eventually did get into a fight about his seat.

The marauders also stuck with each other, no matter what. This is also ironical, because there comes a phase when the marauders broke apart, but more on that later. So since, the marauders stuck together, they had to choose four empty seats in a row. Two of these seats happened to be next to Lily and Saffi's. So, if you haven't put two and two together yet, here is what happened.

As the marauders realized that their usual seats were taken, they chose other seats. Since the entire morning felt like a joke, it was only natural that James picked the seat next to lily. But like mentioned before lily had not arrived yet and he couldn't not possibly fathom that it was lily's seat.

When 5 minutes later, Lily and Saffi entered the class gasping for breath; it was Saffi who pointed out that James was sitting next to lily.

"This is going to be fun." She grinned as Lily scowled.

Sirius seemed to have realized this too for he was grinning like a mad man, which he probably was.

Lily took her seat and leaned to across Saffi to talk to Melina.

"Had to run all the way from the dungeons. Professor Slughorn is impossible to stop once he gets chatting."

Melina grinned and started to say something when professor Flitwick entered the class and called for silence. Lily settled down in her seat and proceeded to take out her books when James turned towards her and grinned, "Morning. "  
"Morning to you too." Replied Lily civilly, not wanting to start a fight.

Professor Flitwick proceeded towards the board and wrote: NON VERBAL SPELLS. At once everyone started talking in hushed tones, discussing it with their friends.

"Class, today we will be learning use of non verbal spells in charms. This year most of your subjects will require you to use non verbal spells and it is advised to master them as quickly as possible. Now, we will use them in charms too and perhaps more in this subject than others. Can anyone tell me the difference between Non verbal spells and the usual ones?" said Professor Flitwick.

As a several hands shot in the air, along with lily and Saffi's, James whispered loudly to Sirius, "The fact that we can't speak them." who sniggered loudly. Lily shot an annoyed glance in their direction before concentrating on Professor Flitwick. As He called upon Paul, Lily could feel Sirius passing a note to James who was biting his lip to stop himself from laughing. Lily frowned but concentrated on Paul who was saying,

"Non verbal spells are, obviously not meant to be spoken. Though, the same incantation is used, their effects also vary. Mostly, non verbal spells are not quite as powerful and the effects are less dangerous. Despite being less efficient, they are extremely useful, especially in a duel, because they provide an element of surprise."

"Correct Mr. Dwindt.5 points to Gryffindor. Now, apart from the element of surprise, in charms there are several spells whose effects are nearly negligible when spoken out loud and hence, they can only be used as non verbal spells. Can anyone give me any such spell? ", Asked Professor Flitwick.

Once again Lily raised her hand and so did Paul and to lily's surprise, so did James. Apparently, Lily was not the only one who was surprised as Professor Flitwick and Sirius stared him. Naturally professor Flitwick pleased said, "Yes, Mr. Potter."

"Well, Professor Flitwick, Levicorpus is a spell that is easier to perform when not spoken aloud." He drawled lazily. He felt lily stiffen next to him and sat up straighter. What had he been thinking about, to mention Levicorpus in front of her. He mentally kicked himself and once Professor Flitwick continued, he leaned towards her whispered," Hey Evans, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, potter." She said, faking concentration while her mind was on the summer when Severus had tried to contact her, more than once.

"Hey, Evans, I really am sorry."

"Bloody hell, Potter, Let me concentrate."

At this James turned to Sirius and whispered something, probably about how Evans was angry with him. Sirius shook his head and whispered something back, which was extremely distracting to Lily's as it is wandering attention.

"Merlin's beard, can't you shut up." She said loudly, causing the class to stare at her.

"Well, Evans I see no way in which I am disturbing you." retorted James, by no means trying to be rude.

"But you can't see anything that doesn't involve you, can you now?"

"Why do you have to make a big deal out of everything? This was not even about my big head."

"Now Now, Miss Evans, Mr. Potter, I suggest we all calm down. Why don't one of you change your seat?" squeaked Professor Flitwick.

"I am not moving." said both of them together.

"You move potter, this is not even your seat."

"But I am not the one who has any problems, am I?" he replied. In fact, he had no problems sitting next to her. He was actually pretty pleased when she had chosen the seat next to him.

"Ugh, potter, why don't you move already and we can continue with the class."

"You could do the same." He shrugged.

"Mr. Potter, Miss Evans, 5 points from Gryffindor each. And a detention for both of you. Now I suggest you remain quiet for the rest of the class."

Naturally once they were out of the class, they both had a screaming match in the corridor. James felt that this was the only way he would be able to talk to her while she was frustrated that she had lost points on the very first day of school. As the class hurried outside to watch the fight, Alissa packed her things and turned to the girl sitting next to her.

"Hey, err... I'm Alissa. I'm new here."

"Hey, I'm Emmeline Vance, but most people call me Emily." The girl said.

"Right, the thing is, Hogwarts is huge and I don't know the way to Ancient Runes. Could you-"

"Of course, I have the same class. We could walk together." She said as she watched Sirius walking out of the class.

"So, Emily, What the hell just happened in Charms?" Asked Alissa, not used to James and Lily's fights.

"Oh, about that, well you took the marauder's seat and so James and lily had to seat next to each other."

"What is a marauder?" ask Alissa Confused.

Emily gave a beautiful tinkling laugh before, "I keep on forgetting how much you don't know. The marauders are James, Sirius, Remus and Peter."

"Oh, that fight was my fault."

"Don't worry about it; Lily and James fight all the time. They'll probably fight during the detention and get some more."

"Oh okay." said Alissa uncertainly. And that was the start of a new friendship.

* * *

The first week back at Hogwarts was pretty much uneventful, except for a huge row between James and lily on the first day, in professor Flitwick's class. That was exactly what Mary was saying on Friday morning during breakfast, when a huge owl dropped a letter on her bacon. Mary frowned at the envelope. She had received a letter from her mom the previous day and was not expecting any mail.

"Who could be writing to me?" she wondered aloud as she picked it up.

"Only one way to find out dear." said Melina, buttering her toast

Mary nodded and opened the letter and glanced quickly through it. Her eyes widened and her hand started trembling as she let the letter fall the table. Saffi and Melina looked at her in surprise as she choked out, "Read it"

Saffi picked up the letter and read-

_Mudblood,_

_Your dirty blood ridicules the great ancestry, i.e. the wizarding community. You have stolen Magic from a pureblood, deserving, magic worthy witch or a wizard and theft is never taken well. Mudbloods always have to pay for their sins._

_"5 mudbloods in Kentucky were cruciated and cursed. 3 of them died their foul blood unable to bear the pain.2 females left were used and once they were unable to serve their filthy purposes, they were disposed of."_

_Several Mudbloods have faced the same inevitable end that their flawed character deserves._

_ARE YOU NEXT, MUDBLOOD?_

Melina choked over her toast and looked at Mary who had paled to the colour of forty day old porridge.

"What am I going to do?" she whispered silently, worry etched across her face. Melina got up and sat down besides her, patting her back. Just then lily entered the room and sat down besides them, though no one noticed her.

"What happened to Mary?" She asked her own voice very weak.

As Saffi passed her the letter Lily's eyes widened. "I've got a letter too." She said.

By that evening every single muggleborn had received a letter. Some had found it in their bags; some on their desks while some via owls. Each letter accused the receiver of being a mudblood and told gruesome incidents that may have happened to muggleborns. And each of the letters ended on the same note- ARE YOU NEXT, MUDBLOOD? At least that was what Professor Dumbledore noticed as he glanced through a few of them. Handwriting was different on each letter and Dumbledore was sure that magic was involved.

Next morning he addressed the students seriously.

"Students, this is an extremely serious matter and I hope that anyone with any information will come up, either to me or any of the staff. And to the muggleborns I would like to add, do not fear. Be cautious and keeps wands at ready. Dark forces are invading our world and I can only ask you to trust each other and remain strong in such times. I would also like to assure you all that your safety is our priority. Do not hesitate to seek help from your teachers."

This speech left most students more worried than before. Dumbledore had certainly calmed them but, as lily pointed out, he didn't ensure their safety.

The topic of Letters continued for a week and it certainly became the most discussed topic at Hogwarts, but it the months to come, sadly, other topics were discussed for a longer amount of time.

On Saturday night (the day after Mary received the fateful letter) at 7:30, Lily dutifully arrived at Professor Flitwick's Office. She had not talked to James (potter as she called him) for the entire week and was rather miffed at the thought of having to talk to him. She just was not in the mood, not with everything that she had been going through. At that very instant, i.e. 5 minutes to 7:30 James was with his friends talking about the letters,

"I feel like we should be doing something about this whole matter." He said.

"I know but what can we do?" said Remus frowning.

"Agh! I feel like I am missing something. "Complained Sirius loudly, from where he was stretched out on the couch.

"I agree with you. I am feeling the same thing." muttered James.

That is when Melina entered the common room with Paul and she noticed him.

"James, don't you have detention today. Lily has gone for hers." She said approaching him.

"Shit!"

He got up and ran down three floors at maniac speed when he bumped into Severus Snape.

"Watch where you're going, Potter." He snarled.

"Whatever, Snivellus." said James not bothering to wait around. Gasping he arrived 10 minutes late for his first detention of the year.

" Mr. Potter, you are late."

"Sorry Professor Flitwick" He said casting his mind for some excuse when professor Flitwick said, "You both will write this message and send it to all the parents who have written for their children's safety. Quills and parchment and ink are on the desk." said Professor Flitwick before dictating a rather diplomatic message.

"So professor Flitwick, this person is not yet caught?" asked James curiously.

"No potter" he said getting up and reaching towards the door indicating the conversation was over.

"But professor Flitwick, you must surely know something." interrupted lily using her best good-student voice.

"Even if I did Miss Evans, you must understand that I can't disclose it to you."

"But professor I'm scared and if I knew something, anything, it might help me relax. (A moment's silence) Please."

"Now Miss Evans, I suppose I can say this, Professor Dumbledore's worried that it might be a student, but not word to anyone." He said sternly.

"Of course not professor, you have my vow of discretion." She smiled sweetly before turning to the letters.

As professor Flitwick left, James turned to lily and said, "Merlin Evans, you know it would have taken me and Sirius weeks of snooping around and still we would not have found that out and here you are, asking professor not even bothering to be tactful."

Lily lips twitched as she tried to hide a pleased smile. "Come on potter, I am not going to do all this work alone."

For the next 10 minutes they worked in silence before James threw his quill down and stretched his legs.

"I'm bored Evans", he declared.

"Potter!"

"Come one, you can't tell me you are interested in this. And the parents are dumb you know. _We are doing the best we can" _he mimicked." They know it is a diplomatic way of saying we have no shitting idea about what is going to happened to your child."

Lily sighed and put down her quill as well.

"Potter, " she started to argue when she stopped. " Yeah, my parents will probably throw it in the dustbin." She said.

" Eva-, Lil-, Are you alright?" James asked concerned.

"I'm fine." She said. James looked at her in disbelief.

"Alright I'm scared but nothing's really happened yet you know, I mean we'll all forget it in a few days. "

James looked at her in a confused manner.

"I mean that if it is a student, it must be a slytherin and I don't think they really have the guts to carry out their threats."

At this James mind started ticking. "Slytherins but which one? " It was then that he remembered bumping into Snape. It must be Snape. Who else could it be? He didn't know why, but James had a feeling that it was Snape. He debated voicing his thoughts but knew better not to.

"But they might be forced too. You know there are death eaters around and rumors are that they are recruiting." He said at length

Lily pondered upon it for a minute before finally saying, "Great, that makes me feel so much better."

James chuckled before saying, "Didn't mean to scare you Evans. Anyways, new topic."

"I think we should get back to work."

"Right, Err…. Evans, I really am sorry."

"I know potter, its okay."

"And by the way, you broke the truce."

"Damn you potter, you always provoke me."

* * *

Melina was having a very bad day, mostly because her friends were having a very bad day and she could do nothing about it. She ate her dinner alone because Saffi was in the library doing something, Lily had rushed off to her detentions minutes ago and Mary was up in the dormitory to avoid random boys from comforting her. Muggleborns were receiving hate mails and some boys still manage to think about sleeping around. Melina sighed, poked at her dinner with her fork and frowned some more.

"Why the expression of beauty Braithwhite?" a voice asked her.

She looked up to find Sirius Black in front of her.

"Bad day."

"You need some snogging to cheer you up."

As she stared at him with an expression of disgust and disbelief, he winked and said," I'll be in the common room, in case you need to find me."

"God, you're disgusting. And you have a girlfriend."

Sirius winked at her and got up and strolled away whistling to himself. All alone she once again frowned at her food like it had sent bad letters to her friends. Finally she got up and started back towards the common room. It was on the fourth floor staircase that she found Paul Dwindt, sitting on the floor all by himself. In fact she nearly passed him and walked ahead when she double took.

"Paul, what are you doing here all alone?" she asked concerned.

"No- nothing." He said getting up, his voice choking. He had been crying. Melina sat down on the floor and pulled him down.

"Sit" she ordered.

"You were crying. What's wrong?" she asked once he had sat down.

"Merlin women, can't you let a guy cry in peace."

"Are you sure you want that?" asked Melina, not wanting to pry. She knew enough men from hanging around with Mary and her own male friends to know that while girls liked to cry in groups, guys preferred to uphold their so called masculine identity.

"No, not really. I am just used to it. I have no friends." replied Paul after a moment.

"That's not true."

"It is. Name a few friends of mine."

At this Melina stayed quiet and Paul said, "Yeah, figured."

"Well, I'm your friend."

"We have hardly talked before. I bet you can even say my last name."

"Its Dwindt and we may not have been really chummy up till now, but you need a friend and so now we are friends."

Paul looked long and hard at her before saying,"Thanks."

"My pleasure. So, what's wrong?"

"I'm a muggleborn."

"Oh"

"Yeah."

"Don't worry Paul; this is just the work of some 12 year old who likes attention."

"Yeah, but I am scared. And it hurts worse that I can't tell anyone about it. My father left my mom and I am all she has and if she were to find out about all this bu- business, she will want me to drop out. And I- I'm scared Melina." He could go ahead but then his voice broke and he started crying. Melina patted his shoulder and at length said, "Paul, we're friends and my friends can confide their troubles in me. Now, it is time to get up and stop crying. Crying is not going to solve anything. Come on, up now."

And they both climbed up in silence with Melina occasionally squeezing Paul's hand and speaking words of comfort. Once they entered the common room, Paul departed for his dormitory and Melina toyed with the same thought when she noticed James hanging around with his friends.

"James, don't you have detention today. Lily has gone for hers." She said approaching him.

"Shit!" he cried out loud before dashing away.

"So you came." grinned Sirius at her in a wicked manner.

"Whatever for." a voice came from behind him, the voice of his girlfriend, Emily.

"Your boyfriend was suggesting a snog session with me." Melina told Emily wearily before turning and going to her dormitory. As he heard Emily's yelling and Sirius' protests from the common room, she sighed and turned around. Today had been a bad day.

* * *

_**Author's Note: **__So, enough twists and turns for you all? Many things are happening and I feel like things have finally set into motion. Apart from that, sometimes I wonder if you lot are on the same page as I am. In any case, feel free to ask questions. And I would really love to get more reviews, you don't need to say good or bad things, in fact good song lyrics are also fine (thought genuine feedback is always appreciated.) I just need to know that someone reads this stuff._

_p.s. in case you all didn't notice (thought Jily shippers always notice) James and lily had 2 decent conversations and I promise they are going to fight a lot less._

_Now, enough of me._

_Cookies and warm milk for you all._

_Writer._


	8. Halo

_**Author's note: **__Yeah, I know it took forever to write this chapter but I had this phase where I started reading other fan-fics and forgot my own. Silly stupid me. Can I add one last thing before I type the real stuff? These fan fictions can wreck up your nerves. _

_**To the amazing beautiful people who actually bother to read this stuff and then give feedback (wonderful feedback, may I add); Aka the reviewers:**_

_**Stefan: **__Thanks a lot. And because you say you like the story, this chapter goes out entirely to you. ( for making my lazy self to get up and start with the next chapter). _

_**Disclaimer: **__Rowling owns the characters and my soul too. _

_**Previously: **__Chances are you remember what I last wrote, but I don't. So a quick recap for me (but you can always take a sneak peek). _

_Paul and Melina become friends. All Muggleborns in Hogwarts receive threatening letters. James and lily fight but forget about it and have a decent conversation. Snape is doing some sort of favor for Rodophulus. _

**7. Halo. **

"_Isn't it obvious? I've got my own little piece of Heaven right here."__ - __Alexandra Adornetto_

One week had passed since lily had received a letter that she was not all too glad to receive. One week had passed since every muggleborn in Hogwarts had received the said letter. One week had passed and the top topic of Hogwarts' gossip had still not changed, but soon would. One week had passed since students were shaken and terrified, and they were starting to go back to normal, almost. One week had passed since lily had spent a detention with James and ironically enough, one week later, she found herself with the same James Potter.

I suppose I should start from the beginning. It had been a Saturday and Lily had just sent a detailed letter to her mom, assuring her that she was very much safe, alive and unharmed, save a nasty scratch she had received while tripping on a stair, though that was not very much important. She had been walking back from the owlery to great hall having firmly decided to have an early dinner.

It was on first floor corridor that James appeared out of nowhere near her.

"Hello there, what a pleasant surprise Evans. "

"Oh, it's you." She said her tone flat.

"Aren't you really enthused to see me? Though, honestly Evans, whom were you expecting?" he said wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at towards a nearby broom closet.

"Mind out of the gutter, Potter. And these days, you can never be too safe." She said crossing her arms and stopping to look at him.

"Still worried about those letters? You know Evans, you shouldn't be. I mean you are one of the brightest witches in our class and I am pretty sure you can take on anyone in a battle."

"I just hope it doesn't resort to a battle." She said frowning, before resuming her walk.

James fell in step with her and walked his hands in his pockets, whistling softly.

"Did you tell anyone about what Flitwick said?" she asked.

"Just the boys. You?"

"Just the girls."

After that they fell quiet. Finally breaking the silence, she asked," Whom do you think it could be?"

"I don't think you want to know."

"I just asked didn't I?"

"You will just snort and frown or maybe even hex me. In any case, you won't believe me. And since I only have a gut instinct, I can't even prove anything. So, just drop it." He said, though his mouth was itching to say "Snape."

Lily looked at him long before nodding and continuing her pace.

"What, no arguments. Not putting up a fight?" asked James surprised.

"Tired. And you're talking about Sev." Came her monosyllabic reply and indeed she did sound like she hadn't slept in weeks.

"Yeah, you look like shit." came James' reply.

Lily snorted and smiled tentatively before saying," It has been a long week and those letters." She shuddered.

"You worry too much Evans. It will get you nowhere. And I feel like these letters are just more bark than bite. I mean, it has been an entire week and not even one hair has been touched. And like I said before, you are pretty darn smart. "

"I am not worried about myself." began Lily slowly. "More about Mary and Mel says that Paul is scared too. And, I- I am worried about others, especially the first years. Hogwarts and magic is pretty overwhelming and scary for an eleven year old muggleborn as it is. They don't need that."

"You know Evans, you are like an angel."

"Oh for Merlin's sake potter, I am not going out with you. Calling me an angel won't change my mind." said Lily in huff looking pretty cross.

"What- Merlin, no. What I meant was that you are like an angel, going around worrying for everyone. All that is missing is a halo around your head." He said rather quickly.

"Shit Evans, you really thought I was going to ask you out?" he added skeptically.

"You can last a week without doing so and it has been two. And then you go around calling me an angel. Excuse me if a girl can't help but jump into conclusions." She said scowling rather furiously.

James laughed out loud before waggling his eyebrows and asking, " Do you want me to?" he laughed a bit more at her flustered reaction before adding, " You know Evans, I can actually go on for quite a long time without asking you out."

Lily ignored him and continued climbing down the staircase leading to the entrance hall.

It was at the doors of the great hall that she said, "Thanks."

"About the angel thing." She added at his confusion, flushing a bit before turning away and going to sit beside her friends.

"You really are an angel, Halo." He muttered softly as he watched her retreating back.

Later that night, as Lily thought about it, she realized that James was correct. No one had been harmed, no one had been hexed. Surprisingly enough, not even by the marauders. Maybe it was just a hoax. With that comforting thought she fell asleep. And she was not the only one who felt that.

Students had stopped being scared of walking alone in the hallways. Laughter had once again issued in the school. The great hall was not silent and gloomy at dinner but buzzed with the chatter of students. Everything was going back to normal, and this change did not go unnoticed by a certain seventh year Slytherin.

* * *

Rodoluphus Lestrange was in a very very bad mood. He was pacing in his common room, pausing only to glare at first years. As quarter of an hour passed he stopped pacing and walked out. He paused, mentally debated and decided that Severus Snape must be on the way back to the common room. He walked towards the great hall and sure enough, halfway he found him walking alone.

"Snape!" he hissed, pulling him into the shadows. "Do you see this?" he said, waving a parchment in from of him. "It is from Macnair. He doesn't think your plan is working. No one is scared anymore. Everything is back to normal. He wanted permanent results." continued Rodoluphus.

"What can I do? You saw how everyone reacted initially. This is scary." Snape insisted. Rodoluphus grudgingly obliged but said, "yes, but Macnair doesn't trust you. This is risky enough as it is and he doesn't want useless recruits who will only make a mess of everything."

"I'm not useless. What should I do?"

"Convince everyone that this is a serious matter."

"Dumbledore already did that. Stupid fool, giving that ridiculous speech."

"It is not working. Do whatever you must, but prove your worth, else get lost. And tell that Mulciber and Avery too." hissed Rodoluphus one last time before turning and walking away. Snape stood there staring after him before going to pass the message.

That night, Snape sat with Avery and Mulciber, the three of deciding how to prove their worth.

"We could send another batch of letters." Avery was suggesting when Mulciber cut him off.

"No, no one will believe the same thing twice and we might get caught. We barely managed to convince Slughorn the last time."

"But then what can we do? The only thing that will scare would be the dark lord coming over himself." Avery argued.

"Don't be stupid." said Snape, starting to doubt their worth.

"We can implement on the letters to show we meant them." suggested Mulciber slowly.

"But that would mean..." Avery started to say when he was interrupted by Snape.

"Yes."

* * *

Remus and Peter were lounging around in the Gryffindor common room on Monday evening when Peter declared that the size of transfiguration homework he had just finished had made him hungry. Remus snorted at his friend but seeing that his own work was finished, he agreed to accompany Peter to the kitchens.

On the fourth floor, Remus stopped to tie his shoelaces when he heard a scream. A terrifying scream that made all his hair stand up and gave Peter the worst kind of Goosebumps. They both exchanged a look before rushing in that direction. More screams ensued as they ran. Finally they turned around a corner to find a body lying in a pile on the floor. They heard feet scuffling in the other direction. Peter fell towards the body while Remus ran towards the culprits. He turned around the corner to find the corridor empty. Grumbling, he went back to where Peter was. Peter, In the meantime, had levitated the body and was waiting for him. Together they went to the hospital wing.

* * *

Emily and Alissa had entered the Great hall and sat down. Emily was grumbling about Sirius having promised to meet her for dinner and not coming down. Alissa rolled her eyes but continued filling her plate when the same Sirius black that Emily was complaining about entered the great hall. He was breathless and his features screamed impatience.

As he spotted the girls, he rushed over them and asked, "Have you seen Lily? Or Melina?"

Emily started shouting at him. "Sirius black! You were supposed to meet me for dinner and you're late. And then you come and ask for other girls. Just what do you think... umph?" Sirius had clamped his hand over her mouth to stop her from talking.

"I am assuming you guys haven't heard. Peter and Remus just told me and James and we rushed to find Lily or Melina. They deserved to know. I suppose you both ought to know as well. We don't know who was it but Remus believes it was more than one person." He paused to take a breath and started to continue when Alissa interrupted him, "Sirius, we don't understand what you're talking about."

He looked at her and removed his hand from Emily's mouth, who had sensed the matter was serious and was quiet. Sirius ran his hand through his hair, a distant look in his eyes, "Mary was cursed."

* * *

James ran upstairs to his dormitory as soon as he heard about it. Pulling his map from his bag, he muttered, "I solemnly swear I'm up to no good." Scanning the map, he found the dot he was looking for, Melina Braithwhite it read. She was on the sixth floor near the charms corridor. He hurried downstairs and flung open the portrait of the fat lady to find himself face to face with Lily.

"Merlin Potter, where's the fire?" she asked, getting over her shock.

"Lily, you should know. Your friend, Mary, she- she was cursed." whispered James. Lily's eyes widened in shock as James continued, "I reckon she and Mel are pretty close, right? Mel always says so. I thought Mel should know. I was going to look for her. She is the hospital wing right now. Mary I mean. She is still unconscious."

Lily gulped visibly before nodding and walking with James. It was assumed that she was going with him. As they turned down the stairs she asked, "How do you know where she is? Mel could be anywhere. And what the hell happened to mare?"

"I just thought we should start looking for Mel around here and I dunno about mary. Remus and Peter found her."

And at that moment Mel turned around the corner in front them, humming merrily to herself.

"Hey lil, James. I finished all my homework. Actually managed a non-verbal spell." She beamed before narrowing her eyes. "Hang on; what are you both doing here? Oh! Were you sneaking for a snog? Oh! I'm so sorry to interrupt. Don't mind me." She said knowing that Lily would get riled up and James would blush. Instead the two of them stared at her deadpanned.

"Okay, who died? What the hell happened? I've never seen you two so serious before." She said looking scared.

* * *

"Mary was cursed. She was seriously cursed. Are you fucking kidding me? By whom? Which curse was it? Please tell me it was not crucio. Does Dumbledore know? How can a student curse another student? Hexing for fun and minor jinxes and dueling, I get. I mean I don't get them but I can understand how they can do them, but curses. Bloody Merlin, we are not even supposed to learn curses, dark curses . How- what. Aagh! What the hell. What the fuck."

Saffi was in a full rant mode and she was pacing back and forth inside the hospital wing. Remus and Peter stared at her, each lost in their thoughts. Saffi had been feeling a bit sick since morning; a weird bout of nausea had overtaken her. In the end she had given up on trying to finish her huge pile of homework and decided to sleep but as it so happens, sleep was evading her. Finally, frustrated, she had decided to come to the hospital wing and ask Madam Pomfrey for a sleeping potion when she ran into Remus and Peter. They looked rather grim and were talking seriously with James and Sirius, which she later found out, asking them to find Melina, Lily and herself.

She had never intended to eavesdrop. She was not the one to do that and yet she couldn't help but do so, especially when she heard her own name. And then Remus and Peter gave her an account of what they had seen while Sirius and James went off.

And so there she was, in the hospital wing, pacing and cursing, worried out of her mind.

* * *

"We're not supposed to tell anyone. It would cause havoc. Everything would be chaos and we don't need to deal with hysteria at the moment. I don't know what happened. Remus and Peter found her, but we figured Melina and Lily and Saffi would want to know. Those four are pretty close." Sirius was explaining to Alissa and Emily, as they followed him to hospital wing.

As they crossed another flight of stairs, Sirius heard noises around the corner. He was going to walk right past when he recognized them. Pulling Emily behind him and asking Alissa to do stand behind him too, he peeped around the corner.

"Did you really do that?" Rodoluphus was asking.

"Yes, we did. You will soon find out. No one knows about it, don't worry." said Snape nodding curtly and turning to leave. As he was headed in their direction, Sirius warned others to behave casually and soon they were outside the Hospital wing.

Nearly entire Gryffindor sixth year batch was in the hospital wing, except for Paul. Melina sat near Mary's head with Lily right beside her. Remus and Peter sat on the other side while Saffi was pacing the room. Emily and Alissa felt unwanted but they didn't want to leave either, so they just stood some distance away. James and Sirius were outside; Sirius was telling James about the conversation he had overheard.

"Prongs, I think it was Snape who curse her."

"Why do you think that?" James asked sharply.

"I just saw him talking to Lestrange."

"Oh! What did they say?"

"Snape was saying he did something, no 'we' as in more than one people."

"I know what 'we' means padfoot. Go ahead" James interrupted impatiently.

"Right, so they had done something and soon everyone would find out about it but no one would find out that it was them."

"Pads, that could mean anything. I mean, don't get me wrong. If you ask me, it would be him, no doubt. But we have no proof."

"Ah! Prongs, but don't you remember- King cross station."

"Fuck."

"Exactly."

"Sirius, James. She's come around" Emily interrupted them. They followed her inside to see Mary sitting up and making a face towards the potion she had in her hand.

"Come on now Miss McDonald, drink it up. " madam Pomfrey was saying.

Mary nodded, made another face but eventually drank it in a gulp.

"Mare, you alright?" Melina asked slowly, rubbing circles on her back.

"Fuck, Mel. I was curse. Crucio." she whispered. "My head hurts and everything is dizzy. I can't move without feeling pain and fuck, I can't remember anything. Not one bloody thing, except for pain. Endless pain."

"Mary, do you remember anything? Who it was?" Remus said.

"Everything is a disoriented. Don't remember anything." she said, on the verge of tears.

"Mary, just talk us through. Tell us what you remember." Said Lily softly.

Mary nodded and started talking.

"I was in the library, studying with Mel. I had finished everything except for transfiguration but I was tired. And I had left my transfiguration notes in my dorm. So I told her I would finish my work in the common room and left the library. I remember I was on the fourth floor, because I stopped to check my reflection in the glass case of the trophy room. I remember I heard voices, someone was fighting. But it was behind me and I continued ahead, not wanting to interrupt a fight. Next thing I know was pain. I wanted to die. Hell, I should've died. It would have been easier. And then I woke up, here."

An ominous silence followed which was broken by Peter.

"I was going down with Remus to the kitchens when we stopped on the fourth floor. Remus had to tie his shoelaces. Then we heard a scream. We ran towards you but our footsteps scared away your attackers. Remus tried to follow them but the corridor was empty and it eventually lead to the stairs, which would get us nowhere. Then we brought you here. But it could be anyone."

Mary looked like she was going to faint when she choked out a thanks to Remus and Peter. At this instant, Madam Pomfrey entered the room and she looked extremely miffed.

"What are you doing the poor girl? She needs rest. She in no position to play Auror-Auror games with you all. She has been cursed. Now, the only questioning will be done by professor Dumbledore and not a single one of you will raise an objection as throw you out of the here. And with that, she threw them out.

Subdued and silent, they bade Mary a good night and left. The next day professor Dumbledore questioned each of them and Mary too. Their statements were taken down and this took up most of the morning. They were free to attend their afternoon lectures, but by then the news had spread throughout the Hogwarts. Transfiguration and Charms were hardly fun when majority of the class is staring at you or passing notes to you asking questions about an incident you may have witnessed.

All in all, it was not the best Tuesday. Once the classes were over Emily had gone to spend time with her Ravenclaw friends and Alissa accompanied Lily, Melina and Saffi as they visited Mary.

"Hey mare, How are you? Feeling better?" asked Melina as soon as she entered the room.

"Hey, getting bugged." said Mary, looking up from her book.

"I have decided that the hospital wing is more boring than the library." She declared once all of them had settled.

"Oh, hey Alissa, I didn't expect you here." She added looking at Alissa.

"Me neither, but I had nothing else to do and I was worried." She smiled back.

"So, have you all got me tons of chocolate and get well soon cards?" asked Mary, looking around.

"Not really, we have got you tons of homework." said Saffi grinning wickedly.

"Which McGonagall says you don't need to do until you are well." added Lily, frowning at Saffi.

"Good." said Mary, all but sighing in relief.

"And you would be pleased to know that you're the last gossip in school." said Melina, grinning knowingly at her.

"Oh great." May groaned as buried her face into her pillow.

"I don't understand, you love gossip." raid Saffi.

"I do, but I don't love being the gossip." retorted Mary.

"Then maybe, next time, you would think twice before gossiping."

Mary and Saffi continue bickering while the others watched them smiling.

* * *

In the common room, Sirius and James had just finished explain their theory to Remus and Peter.

"But, you have no proof." argued Remus.

"We know, we just need to get some." said Sirius lazily.

"But it will be tough. It is not like snivellus will go around announcing It." commented Peter.

"We can just keep our eyes and ears open, nothing else." said James wisely before adding, "I think I will keep the quidditch trials next week." And thus he effectively changed the topic to lighter subjects.

* * *

_**Author's note:**_ _I hope you all can keep up with the innumerable page breaks. I just have a thing for them. And i just finished reading 'Looking for alaska.' by John Green. What have you been reading lately? like mentioned a million times before- reviews are always welcome. And don't worry, next chapter won't be quite this dark. It will be all Dates and blokes and stuff. _

_Anyways, T.V is calling me. Buh-bye._

_Hugs and kisses_  
_Writer._


	9. Date, Dates , Dates

_**A/N:**__ as promised, a light, cheerful chapter with no one getting cursed, yet. Sometimes I wonder if anyone actually reads these author's notes. If you do then let me know._

_**To the reviewers:**__ Your species are extinct or in hiding._

_**Disclaimer: **__ Who here wishes they owned harry potter? Yeah, keep wishing._

**8. Dates, Dates, Dates.**

"_He'd written me up a proposal of why dating him was a sound decision. It had included things like "I'll give up cigarettes unless I really, really need one" and "I'll unleash romantic surprises every week, such as: an impromptu picnic, roses, or a trip to Paris—but not actually any of those things because now they're not surprises."__ - __Richelle Mead__,__Spirit Bound_

**Quidditch Trials**

_Quidditch trials for Gryffindor Quidditch team take place on 27__th__ of September from 10:30. One chaser and one keeper required. ONLY Gryffindors. _

"Oi, Melina, be at the Quidditch pitch on 27th at 10 and tell others too. I want the entire team down for trials." James potter called out one morning across the Gryffindor table to Melina.

"Yes sir." She quipped raising her hand in a salute. "About time, potter, practicing with 5 players is pathetic."

James nodded and grinned and continued his breakfast.

"Quidditch trials, which positions are free?" asked Alissa who was sitting with Melina, listening to her conversation.

"We need one chaser and a keeper. Our previous keeper finished Hogwarts last year and the chaser quit the team. Merlin knows why. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I am a pretty darn good chaser. I was thinking of trying out."

"That's good. Were you on a team back at Durmstrang?"

"Nah! Durmstrang players are pretty damn good. I was just average there but I think I will be fine here."

Melina raised her eyes but said nothing.

"What are you talking about?" asked Emily as she took a seat beside them.

"Quidditch trials." said Alissa.

"I think I'll attend them" she replied

"You're going to try?" asked Alissa.

"Oh Al, you make me laugh. Don't be silly. I just want to spend some time with Sirius. Speaking of which, here he comes." She said, grabbing a toast, giving them a wink and sauntering of towards Sirius.

"She's obsessed with him." muttered Melina.

(Sirius gets a date, and he didn't even ask for one)

"She's obsessed with him" muttered Peter under his breath as he watched Emily come up behind Sirius and kiss him on the back of his neck. "PDA much guys" he said aloud.

"Oh hush Peter." said Emily and added, "You three better get yourself dates for Hogsmeade because Sirius is going to be with me."

Remus snorted in his pumpkin juice while Sirius said, "You know Em that it is nearly a month away."

"Oh, I know. But I wanted to make sure you boys don't make other plans. Now I am sure James and Remus will find themselves dates but don't worry Peter, I'll help you."

"Ex-excuse me." Peter stuttered in indignation. "I am perfectly capable of finding a date on my own."

Emily gave a laugh before smiling at Peter and saying, "Oh, you are really adorable."

Peter gave her furious glare before standing up and storming away. As she looked at him in surprise, James looked at her crossly before saying, rather harshly, "Apologize to him."

Emily stared at him in confusion before asking, "What on the earth for?"

"Emily, you as good as told him that no one would want to date him. That was rude." said Remus in a firm but polite tone.

"Oh come on Remus." She scoffed before turning to Sirius, "Tell them they're being absurd Sirius."

"Emily, they're right. You have to apologize to Peter." said Sirius playing with his fork.

"I can't believe you. And I was just trying to help him." She said getting up angrily.

(Peter gets a date, and on his own)

Meanwhile Peter was in the courtyard, muttering profanities and cursing Emily. "What does she bloody think she is? Can't find a date. Fuck her."

He was still muttering to himself when he sat down under the beech tree near the black lake. He was so lost in his thoughts; he didn't notice a younger girl sitting next to him, skipping stones into the lake. Upon his arrival she stopped doing so and looked at him. She seemed to be going through some internal struggle before she finally spoke," You're Peter Pettigrew, aren't you?"

Peter stopped his rants and nodded at her.

"Oh, I have been trying to muster the courage to talk to you or any one the marauders since a long time. You guys are my idols. The pranks you come up with are amazing. I wanted to ask you lot for tips but I was scared. I was sure you would shoo me away. I play pranks of my own too but most of them are on a small scale and only my house mates know about it. You wouldn't know, I am a hufflepuff you see. But – oh I am rambling." She said and instantly shut herself up.

Peter looked at her in amusement, having caught only a few words of her speech. "What's your name?"

"Oh! Elladora, sir. Elladora Guffy." She said quietly, not meeting his eye.

"Well, Elladora Guffy, will you go to Hogsmeade with me?" asked Peter.

"Err… oh! I- um…" she started stuttering when Peter promptly began speaking again. "I am going to be late for my defense lecture but I would love to listen to your pranks and" lowering his voice he continued, "I may even spill a couple of secrets." Then getting up, he winked at her and asked again, "So Hogsmeade or not?"

"Sure, I would love too." She beamed at him.

"It's a date." He said before walking back towards the castle.

* * *

On 27th of September, 9:45 in the morning, James potter stood on the Quidditch pitch with a piece of toast and his broomstick in his hand. 15 minutes later, the rest of his team arrived, which mainly consisted of Sirius Black and Barnabas Cuffe as beaters. Melina Braithwhite was a chaser along with James. Nikki Deverill was the seeker for the team.

"Alright people. Nikki, you are the best with people. So when the tryouts begin, you will have to break it to the hufflepuffs and Ravens that we want only Gryffindors. And if they call it discrimination, don't tell me or I'll hex someone." began James wearily while Nikki gave him a wry smile.

"Merlin James, you'll shatter their hopes." She replied.

James snorted before turning to Sirius, "You and Cuffe are supposed to beat but I swear to Merlin Sirius, if you send one bludger my way, I will murder you in your sleep."

As Sirius made a face, James put on an even more stern expression. "We are supposed to check their skills not mine Sirius."

"Alright."

And so James continued instructing the team before the tryouts began.

(Mary bumps into a date)

The last few weeks of September had been relatively drama free and soon the students were ready to march into October, or in Richard Grunt's case, into Mary Mcdonald. On the day of Quidditch trials, Mary was in the sixth year dorm watching a rather frantic Saffi and Alissa get dressed for Quidditch trials. Lily and Emily had already gone down to breakfast.

"Come on guys, hurry up." She called to them as she stood on the doorway.

"Go ahead mare, we will be down soon." said Alissa as she fished inside her trunk for her gloves.

"No I'd rather wait."

"Don't bother mare, we might probably skip breakfast. We're late as it is and I would prefer to catch potter in a good mood in the very beginning rather than in a bad mood towards the end of the day." said Saffi combing her hair to keep them out of her face.

Mary sighed but went down anyways. She lingered around in the common room, which was nearly empty and was toying with the idea of going down when someone came down the stairs leading to boys' dorm and bumped right into her. Sure enough, it was Richard Grunt.

"Hey Richard" she said as he held her by the shoulder to straighten himself.

"Oh! Hey Mary."

"Going down?"

"Yeah, What about you?"

"I was just about to. Come on, we'll go together" she said smiling and falling in step with him. They talked about random things like Quidditch and homework and soon enough they reached the entrance hall.

"Say Mary, Will you go to Hogsmeade with me? I know the trip is nearly a month away but with you, asking a little bit later might be too late." said Richard smiling and not showing a sign of nervousness.

"Oh, okay sure." She replied surprised but pleased all the same.

"I'll see you around." He grinned at her before walking away.

"Bye."

* * *

"Saffi, you did fine. Don't worry about it" said Alissa throwing a comforting arm around her friend. Saffi shrugged her of and stood up from the benches.

"Easy for you to say, you were splendid." She said as she paced a spot on the Quidditch pitch.

"Saffi, you were pretty good too." insisted Alissa.

"I let Melina score 3 times out of 8"

"Which is not bad."

"Did you see Darren O'hare or were you temporarily blind?" she replied and no one could blame her. He had blocked every single shot and even James Potter; supposedly the god of Quidditch couldn't put a quaffle past him.

"Saffi, I- You gave your best shot. There's nothing else you could've have done."

"Alissa, leave me alone."

As Alissa opened her mouth, probably to say that Saffi could screw herself but she was not leaving, when James called her.

"Alissa c'mere"

With one last look at Saffi she trudged over.

"Congratulations. You're our new chaser and Darren you're our new keeper. Team practice every Tuesday and Friday evening at 6 and Sunday morning at 7. Be on time.

And with that they were dismissed.

(Lily confirms her date, and James is not pleased)

Soon September turned into October and school year was in full swing. The first month had been extremely long and in contrast October was pretty short. Nearly three weeks into October, James was humming to himself as he went down for Quidditch practice. As he turned around a corner, he noticed Lily. He was about to call out when he saw that she was not alone. She was talking to Caradoc Dearborn. Stepping closer he strained his ears to listen carefully.

"So lils, I will see you in the great hall. I look forward to our date."

"Me too. 8 will be fine."

"Good, so where are you headed now?"

"My common room; got some work to finish" she replied sweetly holding up her books.

"Come on, I'll drop you."

"Oh, no need. Thank you but it will be out of the way for you. I wouldn't want to trouble you."

"It is no trouble lilykins."

"Caradoc, no. Sides', I can't tell you password and you probably won't be able to figure out the way back. Go on then, I will see you around." said Lily and gave him a push for good measure.

As he left, James turned the corner and whistled softly.

"That your date, Halo?"

Lily turned around and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Were you eavesdropping?"

"Don't flatter yourself halo. I was just going down for Quidditch when I saw you."

"Right."

"Come on halo; give me company on the way down."

"Can't potter, have to finish some work today."

"Alright then, unlike some people I could name, I don't force my company on others." smirked James. "See you around halo."

"Bye James." said Lily, rolling her eyes.

(Mary confides in Lily, and Snape snoops)

As she walked up to the common room, she was still debating on which essay to finish. However on entering the common room, she knew she had no choice. Mary was standing near the doorway.

"Lily, thank hippogriffs. I need to go to the library." She announced as soon as Lily stepped inside.

"Alright."

"I need you to come with me."

"But I don't need to visit the library."

"Lily, please come with me. It is annoying to go down four floors all alone."

"Mary Mcdonald, I have work to do and I refuse to be your entertainer of the evening. Honestly, it is going to take you 10 minutes."

"Lily, please." Mary said her eyes wide and a charm in her pout.

"Go convince some boy mare. They are probably dying to escort you." Scoffed Lily but at this Mary narrowed her eyes.

"Lily Evans" she began threateningly but continued in a pleading whisper, "You know boys will not even let me study. Do you want your friend to fail?" she added in a melodramatically.

"Alright mare, but you're going to giving me a good reason for this."

"Thank you Love." beamed Mary and soon the two girls were on their way to the library.

"So Lily, what were you up to?"

"Tell me why you dragged me here?"

"Oh come on, it is no big deal. Like I told y- .."

"Mary." Lily cut her off sharply.

"Fine, I'm just afraid to travel alone. I mean after I was cursed, I am afraid. I know I know, I am shame to Gryffindor and all that stuff but I can't help it lils. Please you have to understand." said Mary, her voice choking.

"Oh Mary, You will be alright. Come one love. It is okay. It is natural to be afraid." said Lily throwing an arm around her friend trying to console her.

And as the two girls walked they didn't notice a certain slytherin following them, listening to their conversation. Some would say eavesdropping would be a more appropriate word. Snape had just left the library when he shuffled into a corner as he noticed two girls walking in his direction. They were so immersed in their conversation that they didn't even notice him. No normal 16 year old boy with teenage hormones would try to make themselves scarce in front of two pretty girls. In fact, most normal boys would do the opposite, but then again, Severus Snape was hardly normal. And seeing the two girls were his ex-best friend and the person he had attacked, you couldn't blame him for trying to hide. And to add fuel to the fire, they were talking about the attack itself. You really can't blame him.

"Mare, it is natural to be afraid but you needn't worry. Dumbledore's here and he is going to be more cautious than before. Don't worry mare."

"But Lily, haven't you noticed Dumbledore's not around as much." said Mary softly while massaging her temple. Lily was taken aback for a moment but continued nevertheless, "But mare I am sure he would have taken some precaution. Teachers are more alert. He would never leave the school unprotected."

"But I was still cursed, wasn't I?"

To this Lily had no response and as she thought about it, Mary spoke once again. "I heard McGonagall telling Flitwick that Dumbledore would be gone during our Hogsmeade weekend too. She was talking about increased protection. You're right. I doubt he leaves the unguarded but I'm still scared."

As Lily proceeded to comfort her friend, Snape shuffled away. He didn't want to be caught snooping and he had heard enough.

(James asks Alissa on a date)

(Paul makes use of his friendship)

Alissa arrived at the sixth year Gryffindor girls dormitory dripping with sweat, her mind on a long shower and James potter, though not about James potter in a shower. Instead she got a long wait because Melina had beaten her to it. Damn James potter for it. Err, right. How is James responsible? I'll let Alissa explain but before that she has an appointment with that long shower. As she stepped out of the shower, her towel in her hand, the first words she heard were, "I hate James bloody Potter."

"Why the sudden love?" Alissa asked as she settled in her bed.

"Mel darling has been cursing James for the past fifteen minutes. I have never heard such colorful vocabulary from her." said Saffi from her bed with a smirk.

Melina gave her a glare before sitting down her bed which was already occupied by Mary. Lily and Emily were also settled in their own beds.

"What is wrong, Mel?" asked Lily more calmly.

"Stupid Prat. He was really mad today for some reason only Merlin knows and he always, al-bloody-ways takes it out on Quidditch." said Melina.

"He scheduled practice for almost every day this week and when Cuffe said he had a gobstones club meeting, he was so angry. I swear to Merlin I would've died by that look. I just hope he doesn't make us practice on Hogsmeade weekend." said Melina still grumbling.

"He won't." said Alissa now using her wand to dry her hair.

"How do you know? He is madman." said Melina scowling viciously.

"Because he is taking me to Hogsmeade." answered Alissa simply.

"He what?" exclaimed Mary from beside Melina.

"After Quidditch practice, he asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him and I said yes." answered Alissa not recognizing the reason behind her friends stunned expressions. "That's why I was late" she added.

"Al, that is amazing. I was feeling so damned guilty about leaving you all alone. I mean I should've shown you around Hogsmeade and stuff but now James can do that." beamed Emily.

"Thanks Em. But why are you both looking at me like I've sprouted a third head." She said, indicating towards Mel and Mary.

"Because James doesn't go around asking girls on dates much." said Lily.

"Correction. James doesn't ask girls out unless they are named Lily Evans." said Mary with a hint of a smugness.

"Wait, I don't understand anything. Emily said James and Lily fight all the time. I didn't know they were going out."

"We're not." exclaimed Lily.

"Let me explain." said Melina which caused Saffi to roll her eyes. "James had a huge crush on Lily since forever and every time he asked her out, she rejected him. So it didn't seem likely that he would ask someone else out, especially her friend."

"Right okay, don't worry Lily, we're just friends." said Alissa smirking slightly.

Lily threw a pillow at her and Alissa laughed. And soon others joined in.

"Stop laughing at me you all. Anyways, when I saw him today, just before your practice, he seemed normal, or as normal as you can get with him. I wonder why he was so angry?" she mused.

"Wait, you talked to James. No wonder. You must've fought again and so he was angry." said Melina laughing shamelessly at her friend.

"No, actually Caradoc was confirming our date when he came around and he was teasing me about it." Lily said huffily.

"So maybe he was angry because you're going with Caradoc and not him." quipped Emily.

"Alright. Shut up." said Lily, her tone annoyed and she drew the curtains of her bed around her.

"Goodnight lils." muttered Saffi and everyone chuckled. Then Emily resumed talking with Alissa, possibly about Hogsmeade and Mary went to the lavatory. Melina was on her bed debating between two music records when an owl swooshed in and dropped a note on her bed.

_Melina, oh friend of mine._

_I need your help. Remember how you said I could count on you. Well, here I am doing that. Will you go to Hogsmeade with me? As friends of course. I have no one to go with. Please. I'll even buy you butterbeer. Reply._

_Your pal  
Paul._

Melina grinned as she read the letter and poked through her bag for a quill and scribbled out a quick reply. She was going to show Paul how to make friends and have fun.

_Paul my pal,_

_How can I say no to free butterbeer. I had no one to go with too. Good for us, eh._

_Melina oh friend of yours_

And with that each of the girls fell asleep anticipating the Hogsmeade weekend, eager to get out of the castle and away from the piling school work.

* * *

_**A/N**__** :**__ So, how was this chapter? I don't know why but i'm really worried about it. Btw, i started working on the last chapter of this fanfiction even though it is ages away. i think you all will throttle me when i'm done with it. There now keep wondering in suspense._

_Reviews are better being spies._

_Writer._


	10. A Hogsmeade Weekend

_**A-Note -from -that -annoying -person -who -writes -all -this -stuff -instead -of -just -making -Lily -and -James –snog- each -other -senseless: **__Okay, we can safely conclude that I'm horrible with hyphenations and their terminologies. On the brighter side, I just found a new word for my vocabulary. (Incase you were wondering, the word is digressed whose meaning I initially took was same as distressed). Moving on, I really do feel like doing that sometimes; you know have a game of spin the bottle or shove James and Lily under the mistletoe. But you know what they say about patience and its virtue. Besides, it is a good plot that I have in mind and I refuse to ruin it by pointless crap. _"We kissed and I felt sparks and I knew I liked potter."_ Really, that is pathetic. So anyways, my darlings we'll have to wait a bit more before they get together._

_**To the reviewers: **_

_**Anna: **__Because you told me to hurry up and write the next chapter, here it goes. I just skipped over the hurry up part._

_**Stefan Lee Salvatore: **__Remember that ominous 'yet' you noticed. Yeah, well keep that in mind while reading the next chapter._

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own red nail polish or Harry potter._

**9. A Hogsmeade weekend**

_"I've got nothing to do today but smile."__ - __Paul Simon_

"Snape, Avery, Mulciber, You will be with me at Hogsmeade today." came the drawl of Lestrange, a seventh year slytherin as he gave pointed looks at his juniors.

"I'd rather spend the first Hogsmeade weekend anywhere else than with you Lestrange." said Mulciber in a spiteful tone.

"I figured you'd want to meet them." He replied in a smug tone.

"Them, do you mean, _them_?" said Avery sitting up straighter.

"They are coming here today. Snape, you better be correct about Dumbledore being absent or we'll be in a mess bigger than Hogwarts." said Lestrange.

"Do you see him?" was all Snape replied.

"No, I don't." Lestrange admitted. "Be in Hogs head at 11 sharp." He added before walking away.

* * *

"Come on girls." Alissa chided impatiently at her friends.

"One sec, Al"

"Emily, Sirius is waiting for you and Richard for you Mary. Mel, stop fussing with Mary's hair. She is late and so are you. Paul thinks you've ditched him. Lily, I am sure Caradoc must be waiting for you too. Damn, I wish Saffi was here. I can't handle you lot and your idiot dates refuse to let me go down unless you all come too. So, I will say this one time before hexing you asses down – You look perfect, move it." said Alissa slightly cross but more impatient.

"Done Al, we're done." announced Mary much to Alissa's relief.

"Al, why didn't you dress up?" asked Melina as she started putting her make up back into its place.

"Why should I? It's just James."

"Whoa! You don't fancy him?"

"No, why would I?" she said frowning. "Wait, don't answer that, it came across as rude. What I meant was that I don't need to like him to go as his date. It's a friendly date."

"Al, are you mentally stable?" asked Emily looking away from the mirror at last.

"Last I checked, yeah. Why?"

"He is James Potter. Girls faint when he smiles at them. They are itching to get into his pants. Your date will be interrupted by at least 5 girls who will attempt to flirt with him. He is the catch, not that he cares for anyone but Lily." said Mary dramatically.

Lily snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Mare, I am sure you're over exaggerating and besides, Do you lot want to snog his pants off too?" asked Alissa mischief glinting in her eyes.

"No." said Melina with a sniff. "Mare doesn't believe in wasting her time after the guy who pines after her friend when she can have plenty others. I can't imagine him with me, being lils' friend and all. Saffi is pretty much a lesbian and Lily hates him."

"Saffi is not a lesbian. She will murder you in your sleep if she finds out you said that." said Lily giggling a bit.

"What about you Emily?" asked Alissa as they descended down the staircase.

"We kissed once."

"Damn, I never knew. When did this happen?" interrupted Mary eager to have a new piece of gossip and indignant she never knew about it. And talking about it the girls reached the common room where they separated to go off with their respective dates.

(Richard asks Mary to go out with him)

"You look pretty." Richard complimented his date as she finally came down the stairs and put him out of his misery.

"Thank you. You look nice too." She smiled at him.

He debated for a moment before intertwining his fingers with hers. And hand in hand they walked towards the carriages. They talked about many things; Charms, Broomstick models, new bands and many other things. Once in Hogsmeade they walked along the main street checking nearly every other store.

"I need new quills from Scrivenshafts. Come on." said Mary dragging Richard along with her.

Finally some hours later, after they had visited Sprintwitches (a shop that sold sports items), Dervish and banges and honeydukes, they slowly made their way to three broomsticks where they met several of their friends. They stopped every once in a while to talk to them and finally managed to make their way to an empty table.

"What was Michael talking about?" Mary asked Richard, referring to something Michael had told him.

Richard instantly started explaining "Oh, it was this thing we were trying over the summers and ….."

The couple talked and laughed and held hands over the table. He paid for the butterbeer and she suggested muggle music. As they were walking back towards the carriages, she asked teasingly, "So Dorothy Jones and Ira Paulps…."

"Merlin's beard, I'm never going to live that down." He groaned.

"No you're not." She laughed before adding seriously, "But that was wrong, mind you."

"I know. I am never going to do it again. Handling two birds together is a terrible experience and besides, Dorothy and me, well we had lost our spark."

"That is no excuse." Chided Mary, wondering how the conversation had taken such a serious turn. She had only meant to tease him.

"I know. I am never going to do that again." He said stopping and looking at Mary, his eye meeting hers.

Mary smiled and nodded before resuming their way towards the carriages. As an uncomfortable silence fell around them, she smiled and said in a light tone, "The entire school knew her boyfriend was cheating on her but she was clueless as hell." As he squirmed, she added, "I wonder how Dorothy became a ravenclaw."

At this Richard gave a loud snort and a laugh. "Trust you to question the sorting hat." And once again the mood had lightened and they were laughing and on their way back to the castle. As they reached the entrance hall, Richard turned to Mary.

"Mary, I had a lot of fun today. You're a good date, nice company."

Mary beamed in response and added, her eye twinkling, "I had fun too."

She didn't know how or what happened but she did know that he had come closer to her and was leaning down to kiss her. Their lips came into contact and soon they were kissing softly but urgently in the entrance hall.

"Ahem!" someone said from behind them.

They both jumped apart and looked around; it was Melina and Paul who had amused expressions on their faces.

"Well, Mary, will you go out with me?" asked Richard pointedly ignoring her friends who were grinning wickedly.

"Yes, of course."

(Paul learns to have fun)

As the girls had reached the Gryffindor common room, they all separated leaving Melina all alone. She frowned as she looked around for Paul. Great, she couldn't find him. Thinking he had probably gone down for breakfast, she headed down. Halfway down the third floor, she turned across a corner where bumped into Paul himself, looking downcast and holding a book in his hand.

"Oh Paul, hey, Glad I found you. Where were you? You know it is not very rude to leave without your friends, especially when you promised to go to Hogsmeade with them. And not very wise either, seeing that you'll have to spend the entire day listening to my taunts." She said smiling at him.

"Err... I thought you forgot about me." He replied sheepishly.

"Merlin's beard, Paul!" exclaimed Melina, "I told you I am your friend, didn't I? I agreed to go with you, didn't I? Then why are you acting like a complete git. When I promise something, I go through with it."

"I'm sorry Mel. I am not used to people agreeing to go with me. It was only natural for you to forget." said Paul as they started climbing down the stairs.

Melina snorted audibly before saying, "Natural for me to forget. You are insane. It is natural for me to remember. That's what friends usually do. Merlin Paul, you are an insecure nutcase."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. So, what were you planning to do?"

"Err… I was planning to use the time studying in the library." He said holding out his book. Melina rolled her eyes before saying, "What were you planning to do in Hogsmeade?" slowly and clearly, as though dealing with a child.

"Oh, err… just hang around, I guess. I don't know. I haven't been there much."

"How come you haven't been there much? We have been going there since third year." asked Mel curiously.

"I only went twice in the third year to see what the hype was all about. For the past two years I have just been using these weekends to catch up on my work." He replied feeling more and more embarrassed. He was well aware that if anyone found out about it, he would be teased endlessly and it would certainly not help him make any friends. But he didn't think anyone would bother asking him about it.

"Paul!" Melina exclaimed her heart going towards the poor boy.

"I know, I know, I am such a stuck up prude or a geek, but I never had any friends to go with Mel, so I figured I could catch up on my studies."

Melina sighed softly before reaching out to touch his elbow. "I hope all the studies get you good grades."

Paul grinned widely at the mention of his marks. "All Os in O.W.L.s" he declared proudly.

"Brilliant. But Paul my pal, prepare to slack a bit in work, to pull all nighters, to cram transfiguration, to sigh and complain about work, to worry about your marks, because " she declared moving her arm to brandish an imaginary sword, " we are going to get you friends."

Paul laughed out loud at her antics and said, "Thanks Mel."

"Now, rule no 1 of friendship, stop saying thank you and sorry all the time. We need to get you a better vocabulary." She said as the two of them arrived in Hogsmeade. Then Melina proceeded to show all the stores in Hogsmeade to Paul.

"Mel, I've already seen them all." complained Paul as she forced him into zonkos.

"Right Paul but that was two years ago and you probably looked at them to know more, to learn, to gain knowledge. To study about them. Honestly Paul, are you sure you are not a ravenclaw?" said Melina bit too dramatically.

Paul rolled his eyes but followed her nevertheless. They spent the morning visiting various shops and later they had lunch in the three broomsticks. After that they sat in the pub talking to different people, Melina introducing Paul to most of them. As the day started to come to an end, they made their way back to the castle. It was in the entrance hall that they came across a horrifying sight.

"That's your friend, isn't she?" asked Paul, pointing towards Mary and Richard who were in the middle of a deep kiss. Melina's lips turned up in an amused manner as she nodded.

"Ahem" she declared finally causing them to jump apart. As Mary saw her and Paul, she blushed furiously while Richard ignored them.

"Well, Mary, will you go out with me?" he asked.

"Yes, of course." She said smiling slightly. Once he was out of sight, she turned to Mel and Paul. "Shut up." She declared narrowing her eyes at their sniggering figures. As the three of them turned towards the great hall, Paul excused himself and went away, despite Melina assuring him that he was welcome to stay. Then the two best friends sat down on the Gryffindor table discussing Richard and his date with Mary. Finally after properly exhausting that topic, Melina asked aloud, "I wonder where Saffi and Lily are? I didn't see them once the entire day."

"Because Saffi didn't visit Hogsmeade." said a voice behind her that was Saffi's.

Melina jumped slightly as she sat down beside her.

"Hey Saffi, Where were you then?"

"In the library, working." replied Saffi helping herself to some potatoes and bacon.

Melina groaned out loud. "You are the second person to say that to me today."

At Saffi and Mary's quizzical looks, she explained about Paul. As they finished their dinner, Saffi repeated Melina's question. "Where the hell is Lily?"

"Oh, she must be busy with Caradoc." replied Mary with a knowing look.

"Right, I am going to find out where she is." Said Saffi ignoring Mary and Melina, because it was a bit late and she doubted Lily would be snogging some bloke. Even if she were, they would have seen her at least once.

(Alissa visits Hogsmeade)

"Hey, what took you so long?" asked James as Alissa finally bounded down the stairs.

"I was trying to get the girls down. They were obsessing over last minute make up and other crap I won't bore you with." Replied Alissa a smile toying with her lips.

"Right." Replied James and fell silent as the two of them walked downstairs. For the first time in a long time, he had nothing to say. He wondered why that was. Maybe because he hadn't had a date in a long time. But still he knew he had his charms.

"So, Sirius and Emily, huh." said Alissa waving her arms in front of her where Sirius and Emily were kissing each other.

"yeah." said James with a hint of a smirk. "You know, pads never had a girl friend before. Sure, he snogged plenty of girls but he was never in a relationship."

"So he was basically a man-whore." said Alissa slightly skeptical and mostly amused.

"That's a bit harsh." said James defending his friend but under her raised eyebrows and twitching lips, she gave a look that made him admit defeat. "Yeah, it's true. But most of the time, girls knew what they were getting into. He didn't break too many hearts."

Alissa snorted out loud at this before breaking into a grin. "He better not be messing around with Emily. She is pretty serious for him."

"Don't I know it" muttered James under his breath, not intending for Alissa to hear him. So naturally she heard and narrowed her eyes in his direction. Besides being in close proximity, i.e., the carriage didn't help her turn a deaf ear.

"She is too clingy, that's all I'm saying." He said flashing a swoon worthy smile (she didn't swoon) and holding out his arms in surrender.

"Yeah, she is but only because she is insecure and you can't blame her, can you?" said Alissa with a sigh, explaining her friend.

"I don't blame her. New topic, please. I don't want to fight with you." said James running his hand through his hair and making his eyes round and large. No one could resist them and Alissa was no different. They started discussing Quidditch tactics but something was nagging Alissa at the back of her mind. As they reached Hogsmeade, James turned to her and gave a bow. Still in his bowed position, he looked up and asked her in a posh accent, "Where to first, milady."

Alissa gave a loud laugh before falling into a bow herself and saying, "How the heck should I know?"

James straightened and laughed before putting a hand on her shoulder and leading her towards a shop, undoubtedly zonkos. As they roamed around, James acting as the guide, a ceaseless random conversation flowed amongst them. It was funny seeing that a mere few hours earlier they had no idea what to talk to each other. At the lunch hour, they went to the three broomsticks where they settled in a corner booth. Finally Alissa spoke with such seriousness that it had to be about that thing that was bothering her.

"James, why are you flirting with me?"

"err.. We are on a date together aren't we? It is only natural." He answered tilting his head with a questioning look on his face. Was she mentally sane?

"James, what do you think of Lily?" asked Alissa out of the blue.

For a moment James look startled and his glazed over before his usual cocky smirk was back in place. But Alissa had not missed the moment.

"What about her?" he replied smugly.

"I think you like her." She replied bluntly.

Most people, when confronted about their undying love for another human have a tendency to deny it. The situations itself is embarrassing and make you feel vulnerable and so you deny any feelings you have, especially when the question is asked by a not so close friend. James potter never fit in the category of normal people. So naturally he didn't protest or lie about his feelings.

"Yeah, I do. I like her."

"So this isn't a date. Rather, it's a friendly date. So why are you flirting" she asked, a confused expression on her face which was cleared instantly, "unless…. I am a rebound, aren't I?"

James sheepish expression was more than enough to answer her question.

"I'm sorry Alissa, I just. Aagh! That day when I asked you, I had found out that she was going with Caradoc and I was jealous." He replied sincerely.

"That's okay. I thought this was a friendly date and couldn't help but wonder why you were flirting." She said clearing the matter before smirking and adding, "explains why you were so angry that day."

The rest of the day, she teased him mercilessly about Lily leaving him blushing. Their conversation turned into light banter and it was not until they were back in the entrance hall that the topic turned serious once again.

"So James, did it work? The rebound thing. I mean I had fun today and last thing I would want is you falling for me." Said Alissa a bit flushed.

"No offence al, you're amazing but Lily is, well Lily. It wouldn't work. Besides, I don't really mind…." He said trailing away unable explain what exactly he was feeling.

"You're optimistic. You don't want to get over her because looking at her and being around her makes you happy. Sure the rejection hurts but the pain is nothing compared to the happiness. You will look for a rebound only when the pain outweighs the happiness." said Alissa wisely.

"Yeah, something like that. So, who is the guy that you're talking about?" asked James with a grin knowing that she was referring to her own feelings rather than his. Now it was Alissa's turn to blush.

"No one. It's complicated." She sighed before smiling and holding out her hand.

"We are going to be awesome friends." She said. James glanced at her hand before shaking it and pulling her into a one armed hug.

"Oh, and James, I'm rooting for you and Lily." She said giving him a small peck on the cheek before skipping away into the great hall. Spotting Mary and Melina, she took a seat beside them.

"So girls, how was your day?" she asked and they all started talking rapidly. Finally Mary asked the exact thing that was in Melina's mind.

"Where the hell is Saffi? She should've found lily by now."

"I did." came Saffi's glum reply for the second time from behind Melina.

Taking a seat, she looked worried.

"Merlin Saffi, stop doing that. You are going to scare me fo…. What happened?" asked Melina changing her sentence midway at Saffi's expression. Once Saffi had explained her bit, the three other girls shared her expression of worry.

"But nothing can be done right now." said Saffi looking disheartened. In an attempt to distract herself, she asked Alissa, "How was your day with James?"

At the mention of James' name, Alissa's eyes widened and she leapt up in terror. Bloody hell, she had to find him. She got up and ran across the length of the great hall and was halfway on her way the Gryffindor common room when she ran into James himself. He was with Remus and Peter, Sirius was probably with Emily.

"James, I need to talk to you. Privately." She added dragging him out of their earshot. She noticed Remus and Peter exchanging looks and Remus mouthing, "may be the date was not enough." which caused Peter to snicker. Alissa frowned slightly at them but concentrated on the task at hand. Turning to James, she started talking very fast.

"James, Saffi just told us. She was worried and asked McGonagall who told her….. But there is nothing we can do…. Pomfrey is not even accepting visitors. There is nothing we can do but I thought you should know. You obviously should know…."

"Alissa, you're rambling." Said James in a clear voice shaking her shoulders because her panic was getting to him too and she was a mess. Finally she took a deep breath and spoke in a surprisingly clear voice, "Lily has been attacked."

* * *

_**A/N**:__ So, where were the others? well, remus was in the library studying, catching up on the work he had missed during the full moon. beside his friends had ditched him for dates, so he had nothing else to do. Speaking of his friends, Sirius spent the day kissing Emily in some secluded corner of Hogsmeade. Peter and Elladora had fun on their date. Where was lily? you'll find out in the next chapter._

_i hope you liked this one because it exhausted my head to write this. I swear to merlin i came up with several drafts, all of which faced the wrath of the delete button._

_Reviews are better than chocolate._

_Writer._


	11. Billy, don't be a hero

_**A/N: **__First of all, call me whatever you must but I am excited about this chapter. I had it in mind long before I started writing the story. Secondly, have you heard 'The Reason' by Hoobastanks. It reminded me of James and Lily, a lot._

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Hp or Paperlace or anything else even remotely cool._

_**Previously: **__ The first Hogsmeade weekend resulted in Mary getting a boyfriend, James realized he didn't want to get over Lily, James and Alissa became friends, Snape had overheard Mary telling Lily that Dumbledore wouldn't be around during their Hogsmeade weekend. Lily was attacked._

**9. Billy, Don't be a Hero.**

"_Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime." - Ernest Hemingway_

Lily could feel nothing. She was numb when all of a sudden she was released from the grasp of numbness. Her breath caught in her throat and her heart beat wildly at the sudden pain she felt. Although her heart rate stabilized, she still couldn't breathe. She thumped her chest and massaged her throat to let some air in but no avail. She was starting to feel dizzy and the world was spinning. She felt her knees go weak and stumbled. Somewhere, in the back of her mind she noticed that she could breathe properly. But her fingers were sweating. As she tried to wipe them, she felt something was wrong with them.

"They're tiny." She realized with a gasp.

As she inspected herself, she found that she was for some unknown reason eight years old. Looking around, she recognized her surrounding as her bedroom back home. She was not in Hogwarts anymore. Weird, but seeing that when she was eight she had no idea what Hogwarts was, it was only natural. She was in her night gown sitting up on the bed. It was dark, probably the middle of the night. Suddenly there was a blood curling howl and a bark from outside. As Lily looked towards the window, there was a moment of strangely calm silence. It was a nerve wrecking, eerie silence, like the calm before the storm. As Lily turned away from the window, she saw snakes on the wall opposite to her bed. There were several snakes, twisting and hissing, writhing around menacingly. Once again, Lily felt her windpipe constrict but this time out of pure fear. As her hand flew towards her throat for the second time, she felt scales. A snake was choking her. Trembling with fear, she wished the earth would open up and swallow her. To her horror, that was precisely what happened. There was a hole in her bed and she plunged into darkness.

Lily could feel her brain telling her to open her eyes but the act was tiring. As she tried to open them, her eyes became more and more heavy. Finally, with one last spurge of effort, her eyes flew open.

"Good morning, miss Evans, about time you got up." came a kind voice. As she woke up groggily, she realized she was in the hospital wing. Her body was aching all over and she felt like a herd of hippogriffs had trampled over her. While madam Pomfrey bustled about, reaching into her medicine closet for some potions, Lily sat up trying to get a hold of her bearings but failing miserably.

"Madam Pomfrey, can you explain me what am I doing here?" she asked, allowing her head to collapse into her hands.

"That Miss Evans, only you can do. Mister Dearborn entered here with you in arms muttering something about being cursed. He was frantic and I had to give him a calming drought and put him to sleep. I believe he gave his version of the tale to professor Dumbledore but professor would like to question you as well. Now, drink up." said Madam Pomfrey.

"How long was I unconscious?" asked Lily slowly trying to wrap her mind around her situation.

"Two days. It was a Hogsmeade weekend." Said madam pomfrey briskly, urging her to drink her potion.

Her mind started reeling at the mention of Hogsmeade and she remembered everything with a gasp.

"I'm going to call professor Dumbledore now, Miss Evans. Don't go anywhere, you are still weak." said madam Pomfrey softly.

Lily nodded mutely but her mind was reeling. She remembered being particularly happy on Saturday. She had spent some time choosing her Prussian blue skirt to match with her cream blouse. She had let her hair fall over her shoulders in cascading ringlets. She had kept the makeup light, just a simple lip-gloss and some eyeliner. It was her first date with Caradoc. As she reached the great hall five minutes late, he had been waiting for her. He smiled at her and complimented her. As they walked towards the carriages, they started talking about completely random topics. She had forgotten how easy it was to converse with him. Once they had arrived at Hogsmeade, she had suggested visiting the three broomsticks, for there was a slight chill in the air but he had refused.

"I have something planned" he said smiling mischievously.

"What is it?" Lily asked curiously.

"A surprise!" he exclaimed and pulled her in the direction of hogshead. When she pointedly refused to go in there, he shook his head and smiled. "There is clearing up ahead, beyond hogshead. I have a picnic planned." He said slightly put out that he had to reveal his secret but still happy with her reaction. Her green eyes had widened in response and a gorgeous smile was playing on her lips. She remembered holding his hand and laughing slightly when a noise brought her back to reality. It was professor Dumbledore and he had just opened the doors to the infirmary.

"Good morning , miss Evans. I hope you are alright."

"Of course professor Dumbledore." She said politely.

"We were beginning to worry miss Evans, you gave us quite the scare. I came as soon as I could but you were already unconscious." said Dumbledore seating himself in a chair beside her bed.

"Sorry professor." She replied. At her response he chuckled and a familiar twinkle returned in his eye.

"I hope you don't mind me questioning you Miss Evans. It is only important that you get your story out of your system and you won't be bothered about it anymore." said Dumbledore, his face growing old with worry and the twinkle disappearing from his eye.

"Of course Professor." Said Lily and taking a deep breath she started talking.

"It was the Hogsmeade weekend and Caradoc had planned a picnic in the clearing beyond the hogshead. He had said the clearing was hardly known to anyone and he had stumbled across it by mistake some years ago. But the clearing was already occupied. There were several death eaters in a circle; like a meeting was going on. I would've walked away sir, because standing there with me and Caradoc against roughly twenty powerful, more advanced death eaters who wouldn't flinch to kill us is a dumb idea. I was about to turn away and motioned Caradoc to do the same when I heard a snippet of their conversation.

"…..Avery and Mulciber cursed the mudblood. They are ready to join and they have been loyal so Far." said a voice of a boy. That was when I decided to crouch behind a tree and listen.

"Who was the mudblood?" a cold voice asked.

"Mary Macdonald, a Gryffindor" came a timid reply from the boy. He looked too young to be a death eater.

"And about those letters?" asked another death eater in the same sneering tone.

"Snape, Avery and Mulciber did that too." said the boy.

Sir, I can't be positive but I think the boy was Rodoluphus Lestrange. I have seen him in school sometimes and he looked like him. It has to be someone from Hogwarts." added Lily and paused to gauge professor Dumbledore's reaction.

"Miss Evans, I assure you mister Avery and Mulciber will have to pay for their actions. However, I need you to answer me carefully, was Mr. Snape involved in attacking your friend?" asked Dumbledore, sitting up straighter.

"I…I don't know professor. He may be but I didn't hear his name." said Lily slowly, stressing herself to remember.

"Alright Miss Evans, please continue."

"Then professor they were talking about attacking Hogwarts.

"Are you sure that Dumbledore is not here?" asked yet another death eater, his voice betraying his fear.

"I'm sure sir." replied Snape.

"Very well then, let us pay our dear old school a visit. But we are few in number and it would be best not to spend our time dueling. Now, do you boys know the room of requirement?" said a death eater in a drawling tone.

Avery and Mulciber gulped visibly but nodded nevertheless.

"Good, the dark lord requires us to fetch something rather precious from the room. Are you boys up to the task?"

"Yes sir. Anything for the dark lord." said Rodoluphus as others also muttered their consent.

"But what is it that we have to fetch?" asked Snape, his confidence increasing slightly. This was an easy task to prove his worth to the dark lord.

"A diadem." said the first death eater gruffly. His tone indicated he didn't trust the boys and sure enough he said, "I don't trust these children." Like being children was the worst insult he could think of. "One of us should go with them."

"Don't be ridiculous Macnair, of course two of us will accompany them. We wouldn't want to face the dark lord's wrath for their stupidity." said another death eater.

Macnair grunted in response and then he didn't say anything. At that moment, I told Caradoc that we ought to leave and inform someone. As we started to head back towards the main village, one of us stepped on a twig. It happened very quickly and before we could react, one of the death eaters called out, "who's there?" and a few of them stepped outside the clearing. They had seen us. We started to run but they send spells along our way. Caradoc was ahead of me, so I asked him to go to the hogshead and get help while I tried to keep them distracted.

"Stupefy" Macnair yelled at me. I ducked in time and put up a protego charm. From the corner of my eye, I saw Caradoc had almost reached hogshead. I also saw the four boys, Lestrange, Avery, Mulciber and Snape run away.

"Petrifucus Totalus." I screamed at a death eater who instantly froze and fell.

"Great work Evans, 1 down about a million more to go."

A death eater tried to attack me from behind and I think Snape put a protective shield in front of me. One of them used a stinging hex on me and another tried to crucio me at the same time." Her voice broke at crucio but she took a deep breath and continued.

"I dodged the cruciatus curse but the stinging hex hit me. I remember stunning one more death eater and using rictumsempra on another. I disarmed a third one whose hood fell off. I think it was Lucius Malfoy sir; he was a prefect during my first year. But I can't be sure because at that moment I heard Caradoc yelling at me to look out but I think I turned too late because the next thing I remember is waking up here."

Lily finally finished her story and looked at Dumbledore, who was lost deep in his thoughts. Finally he spoke.

"Miss Evans, you have been extremely brave, a true Gryffindor. The information you just gave me corresponds with Mr. Dearborn's tale. Both of you have been extremely brave; 50 points to Gryffindor."

Lily beamed in response, happy to have earned praise from him. "Sir, I have a question" she added. "You were not here at Hogwarts sir but…." She trailed off unsure.

"Miss Evans, the owner of hogshead happens to know me very closely. It was, by him that I received the message and arrived as soon as I could to help. Mr. Dearborn had rushed into the bar and started talking about the death eaters and help. The bartender contacted me and followed the young man outside to help in the duel. I assume that is when you were knocked out."

"Oh, okay professor. And sir, the four boys…."

"Now Miss Evans, I assure you these boys will face consequences. I cannot punish Mr. Lestrange simply for the company he keeps but Mr. Avery and Mr. Mulciber will be facing suspension. However, there is no proof about Mr. Snape's actions except his involvement in sending those letters for which he will receive detention for the remainder of the year. It will be a long year for him. Now, I suggest you get some rest while I start writing a letter to their parents." said Dumbledore getting up and patting her on the head.

"Sir" said Lily as he reached the door, "My friends will be worried sir and…"

"And they deserve to know the truth miss Evans." He said smiling. Tipping an imaginary hat towards her he walked out leaving her puzzled but surprisingly relieved. After madam Pomfrey's insistence to get a full check up, she finally left the hospital wing. It was almost time for lunch, so she got her bag from the common room and walked to the great hall. As entered the great hall, grateful that she had only missed half a day's lecture, owing to the fact that the previous two days had been a weekend, she bumped into someone.

"Ouch, ow! I'm sorry. I wasn't looki…" she started to apologize when the person she had knocked down interrupted her.

"Lily?" said Caradoc not believing his eyes.

"Oh, hi Caradoc." She said lamely, realizing it was him.

"Oh Merlin, Lily you had me worried sick for the past two days. How have you been? Are you alright? Damn you Lily, I was so worried." He started speaking quickly pouring his concern and fear into his rant.

"Car, stop It." said Lily putting her hand on his shoulders. "I'm fine. I'm alive. Healthy as a hippogriff." added Lily smiling at his concern.

"How have you been? Did… did they attack you after I was knocked out?" she asked, her voice breaking, realizing for the first time she had not even bothered to think about him.

"Well, after I left you, which was the stupidest thing I've ever done in my life. I mean, Merlin lil, you are a muggleborn, they hate you more than anything and I left you all alone to fight them. Shit, Lily, I'm so sorry." said Caradoc, his eyes wide with fear and guilt.

"Its okay car, you got us help which we needed. And I asked you to go. What happened then?" said Lily, taking his hand and rubbing circles on it.

"Right, when I came back towards you, you were dueling two death eaters and had just stunned one of them. Fuck Lily, you were amazing. Bloody brilliant and I was standing there staring at you like a dumbass. When I did come to my senses, a death eater was going to attack you from behind. I called for you to look but you didn't hear me or you were too late. The curse hit you. I was worried you might've died but then there were a couple of them attacking me. Then out of nowhere Dumbledore came there along with the bartender from hogshead (did you know he is Dumbledore's brother?) and well, they must've fought off all the death eaters. I wasn't paying attention. I had got hold of you and I was on the way to Hogwarts. He came half an hour later, worried out of his mind." explained Caradoc, his eyes looking past her as he remembered the incident.

"So you're alright. Not hurt or anything?" asked Lily anxiety showing in her eyes. Caradoc tore away his gaze from the horizon and looked at her and smiled, "I'm fine now."

Lily let out a sigh which she had been holding in when he frowned and said, "Actually, no, I'm not fine. I just realized that I ruined our date. And it was all my bloody idea to go there."

"Hey car, shush. You didn't invite those monsters over there. You didn't,did you?" she said smiling weakly at her lame attempt to joke.

"No I didn't." admitted Caradoc.

"Then why are you worried. As for our date, there will be plenty others." She said smiling up at him.

"Really." asked Caradoc, not believing his ears.

"Really, you are my boyfriend after all, i.e., if the offer still stands." Lily replied biting her lip.

"It does." He grinned at her.

"Good." She smiled before giving him a quick kiss on the cheek and going into the great hall. Barely five minutes after entering hall, she heard a voice screech her name.

"Lily!" Saffi screamed from across the hall before running towards her and engulfing her in a tight hug.

"Merlin Lily, you had us worried. Are you alright? Did Pomfrey patch you up properly? When were you released?" asked Saffi, questions tumbling out of her mouth. Melina, Mary and Alissa were standing and smiling beside them, watching Saffi practically strangle her.

"Merlin you people, isn't she your friend? Trying to choke her to death, are you?" said James coming up behind them. He had walked down to the hall with Alissa voicing his concern about Lily when he heard Saffi scream (who hadn't heard her scream?) and he had followed the girls.

As Saffi let go of Lily looking slightly embarrassed but quite relieved to know she was fine, Lily gave a weak amused smile before turning to James and pretending to wipe a fake tear. "Why potter,only you care about me. not even my closest friends?" she said before breaking into a grin and pulling Saffi in a hug. While the girls hugged Lily, James along with the rest of the marauders sat down; Sirius with Emily in tow and started serving himself some lunch. The girls finally settled down and Lily ended up opposite James.

"Alright there halo?" he asked waving his fork about.

"Not quite. You see someone's trying to spear me his fork" she quipped slapping his hand lightly to keep his fork away from her.

"So Lily, put us out of our misery and tell us what in the bleeding hell happened. All we know is you were attacked and fucking unconscious." said Sirius looking at her.

"Aww… Sirius, I didn't know you cared." said Lily in a teasing tone before adopting a serious expression and narrating her story.

Once she was done her friends clapped her on the back or looked at her incredulously.

"Lily, you fought all alone. Freaking Merlin's sodding pants, you're amazing." said Remus.

As Lily blushed slightly and protested ("really, I didn't do anything, it was Dumbledore. Caradoc was with me too"), others added their compliments. Finally, everyone started conversing among themselves. It was then that James asked her once again, "Are you alright halo?" more softly not allowing anyone to listen.

"I am Potter." She replied rolling her. "Not a scratch on me else Pomfrey wouldn't have let me leave."

"That's not what I meant, Lily. I meant Snape, he was your friend. It must've been terrible to seen him….. With them." Stated James vaguely, concerned yet afraid that she might lash out on him.

Instead, Lily gave him a small smile and a sigh. "He was my friend. Past tense. And I was expecting this." She said her voice heavy. Then she fell silent and just when James thought the conversation was over, she spoke once again, "You were right, about Sev-Snape and the letters."

"Yeah, I'm sorry I was." said James feeling bad for her. He was hardly a fan of Snape and was glad to know his suspicions were correct but he didn't want to Lily sad, the way she was. However before Lily could answer him, Mary turned around and started telling Lily about Richard, effectively ending their conversation.

* * *

_**A/N:**_ _I know i can go for weeks without any update and all of a sudden two updates in two days (almost). well, don't you worry. College starts tomorrow and i may not update for weeks. but i promise i'll try my best. once again, i'm worried about this chapter. For the first time i used only one person's point of view and i am nervous._

_I expect reviews._

_Cheers._  
_xoxo_

_Writer._


	12. Beginnings

_**A/N:**__ Alright, starting off, I know I have updated in a while but I believe I gave my excuses beforehand. Speaking of excuses, I'm a sorry one when it comes to editing. I really wanted a good cover for this fic. If any of you have mind-blowing Photoshop skills and loads of free time, please make me an edit for this story. Don't worry I will give credit where it is due. check my id for more contact details._

_On a somber note, Cory Monteith died. I could never make out the Glee timeline but I watched a couple of episodes and I particularly liked him._

**_To the Reviewers:_**

_**Stefan Lee Salvatore: **__You say you liked the last chapter because 'it' was there. What the hell is 'it'? Also, you're the best goddamned Reviewer I have come across. Every single chapter, you are always there to review. God, I love you. Thanks a lot._

_**Reader: **__I swear a lot and some of it rubs off in my writing. So every time I want any of the characters to say 'Jesus', I make them say Merlin (give it a wizarding touch or something). I never really realized how much they use the word Merlin. _

_**Previously: **__ Lily agrees to go out with Caradoc. Mary is dating Richard. Sirius is dating Emily. And oh yeah, Lily was attacked. James and Alissa agree on being just friends. Peter is dating Elladora Guffy, a 4__th__ year hufflepuff._

**11. Beginnings**

_How do I put this? 'Glee' is like 'High School Musical' if 'High School Musical' had its stomach punched and its lunch money stolen.-Cory Monteith (R.I.P)_

Chizpurfles are a type of very small parasites; crab like in appearance but smaller, most often found in the hair of other magical creatures. For the lack of better analogy, one can say they're the fleas in a dog's fur. They are not particularly violent and their sole purpose it appears is to attack inanimate objects with the likes of wands and cauldrons or in this one case, cigarettes.

In the first week on November, Lily had recovered well from her attack. The shock had worn off and so had the fear. Instead, it was replaced by an urge to defend herself and stay strong. Now she walked in the empty corridors with her wand first and so well had she mastered the bat bogey hex that she could be sleeping and still beat you.

If you ever get a chance to ask Alissa what she thought of Chizpurfles, though you will never get it, but if you do, you will find her grinning from ear to ear. She will laugh out loud and profess her undying love for them.

November also marked the beginning of Quidditch season. The first game, Gryffindors versus Ravenclaw was to take place on the last Saturday of the month. So appropriately enough, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain could be found on the Quidditch pitch at ungodly hours in the morning followed by his disgruntled team and mutters of 'bloody obsessed' and 'he's lost his head' and 'it's hardly sunrise.' But James potter remained, much to the dismay of his team, undeterred.

Mary Macdonald positively hated charms. And the essays she wrote for the subject managed to give Professor Flitwick nightmares. But there was one time when she wrote a really good essay, almost as well as Lily's.

November meant several things for sixth year gryffindors. November meant new friends for Alissa. November marked the birthday of Sirius black. November was the month when Mary met the love of her life, though she didn't know it then. November also was the month Lily was saddest. November was the month Severus Snape finally realized that there was no going back for him and Lily. November was to put it in simple words, an interesting month.

* * *

"Hey Ella, how was your day?" beamed Peter sitting down on the grass besides her, near the lake, where he asked her out for the first time.

"Oh, hi pete. Usual I suppose. It's been a bit dull and you marauders have stopped with your pranks." She said brushing it off with a shrug.

"I know, but with Lily was attacked just last week and it just seems inconsiderate you know." said Peter, frowning slightly.

"But, no offense, she's not even your friend or anything." said Elladora for the sake of argument.

"Yeah, but Evan's attack, it made this war going in the outside world even more real and Prongs, that's James has this theory that we should grow up from these childish antics, especially in the face of this war."

"But then you would be letting this war succeed. That's what it wants, to take away our happiness, to make us grow up." said Ella as she struggled to find the correct words.

"But still, wouldn't a prank be inconsiderate?" asked Peter, his mind wavering.

"I think we need more laughs and pranks to keep us happy in these times, don't you?" she said, her blue eyes piercing his grey ones.

"Yeah, I guess..." he trailed of uncertainly, thinking about what she just said. Shaking himself out of his reverie, he smiled at her said, "Why are we discussing this morose topic? I just came up to check on my girlfriend."

"Your girlfriend is doing just fine but she will be late for her history of magic class, although Binns will, no doubt, have no idea who I am." She said getting up. However before she could rush off, he caught hold of her wrist and stuck out his cheek. She rolled her eyes in a shy smile but all the same, pecked him on the cheek.

(Yesterday once more)

"Hey guys," said Peter as he took a seat besides James, Sirius and Remus for dinner.

"I veto against having Wormy as a marauder." declared Sirius, ignoring his hey.

Peter rolled his eyes and regretted it as soon as the words left his mouth but he said it anyways, "What did I do now, Pads."

"You got yourself a girlfriend." said Sirius like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"And wormy, how could you forget getting a girl is the most horrible crime a marauder can make?" interjected James sarcastically.

"Don't appreciate the sarcasm Prongs. We may throw you out too." said Sirius in a teasing huff.

"Padfoot, you have a girlfriend too." Remus pointed out slightly amused.

"Stop being logical moony or you will not be a marauder anymore."

"Right then me, prongs and wormy will get together and marauder or not, you will be the one left out." said Remus his lips twitching.

"I said stop being logical moony. Must you ruin everything for me?" said Sirius pouting slightly before turning accusingly towards Peter.

"Like I was saying before, ever since this prat has got himself a girl, he's been ignoring us. What happened to Bros before Hoes?"

* * *

"What happened to Girls before….. Well, the library?" Alissa practically whined as Mary and Lily rolled their eyes.

"This is Lily we are talking about, there was never girls before the library." snickered Saffi from her bed.

"Oh shut up Saffi, you're being hypocritical. You were the one to spend a Hogsmeade weekend in the library not me."

"Ouch."

Once again Lily rolled her eyes as she collected her notes and prepared to go to the library.

"Coming mare?" she asked.

"No, you go on; I need to look for my charms notes."

"Alright."

* * *

"Alright, alright. Your girlfriend is not a dark arts supporter even though she clearly uses imperious to control you." said Sirius as he held up his hands in surrender. How the conversation escalated from Elladora Guffy a fourth year Hufflepuff being a hoe to a dark arts supporter, only Sirius knew, for the other three had just gaped at him.

"Sirius" Peter growled, defending his girlfriend once more.

"Alright, confundus then?" he replied cheekily. Sirius ducked under the table as Peter flung a spoonful of his shepherd's pie at him.

"I didn't think I'll ever say this but he's right wormy. You were with her all day." said Remus thoughtfully.

* * *

"My notes were with me all day. How did they just disappear?" grumbled Mary as she walked, while simultaneously shuffling her things inside her bag. As she took out her standard book of spells and flipped through the pages, hoping that the slim chance of finding her charms notes would work out in her favor, she turned around the corner and crashed into someone.

"Bloody hell, watch where you're going." She cried, her book lying on floor amidst a few parchments and two really heavy books.

"Oh I'm so sorry." cringed boy who had bumped into her.

Mary opened her mouth; all set on scolding him, forgetting momentarily that she had crashed into the poor boy and not him. However, as she took in his small mousy, brown haired appearance, she found her anger dissipating steadily. Instead, she offered her hand to him and pulled him up.

"It's my fault really." She smiled sweetly, "I was looking for charms notes and didn't realize you were headed my way."

"Oh, I may have something to do with that." The boy muttered blushing furiously. "I was reading ancient runes and I…" he trailed off and started collecting his books, handing Mary hers.

"Err… um… I was headed to the library." He said when Mary interrupted him, suppressing a smile at his hesitating behavior.

"Me too. So, what's your name?" asked Mary in an attempt to make small talk.

"Reginald Cattermole." He said.

"Oh," she looked startled for a moment before putting up a vibrant smile, "I'm Mary Macdonald, Reg."

"I know. You're pretty much a stand out girl in our year." He said solemnly not even realizing he had complimented her.

"Our year…. Hang on, you're in sixth year?" asked Mary in surprise. Not wanting to come across as rude, she quickly continued, "I …. I pegged you to be a fifth year. Oh shit, I'm sorry."

* * *

"I'm sorry if I don't want to be involved in your silly … whatever it is you're planning to do." Said Saffi crossly, wanting to get back to her book.

"I know what we could do." declared Alissa, completely ignoring Saffi's complaints. "This week as been pretty dull and"

"And I'd rather it remained that way as opposed to our close friends being hexed and cursed." Interrupted Saffi, a tad bit annoyed with Alissa.

* * *

"This week has been pretty down and Elly reckons we should play more pranks. That's what we were discussing today." said Peter.

At his friends' skeptical expressions, he added, "I never thought the day would come when you three would say no to pranks. You do realize that if we stop being immature and if we stop having fun, we really do lose this fucking war."

His friends gaped at him in shock. An outburst from him was the last thing they expected. Peter gulped slightly, wondering if he had said they wrong thing, if he was being callous when Remus offered him a small smile.

"I reckon we need the fun to balance the grief." He said, looking at Peter in a whole new light.

Sirius laughed aloud and shook a finger in Remus' direction, "Is ickle Prefect moony suggesting something?"

James and Peter laughed at him dismissing whatever little tension that had crept up in the room while Remus shrugged and said simply, "I believe the marauders are overdue. Let's plan a prank."

* * *

"Let's plan a prank." announced Alissa.

"I thought we decided that dull is happening." said Saffi dryly.

"No you decided that." Alissa replied grinning cheekily.

"Clearly.", muttered Saffi under her breath.

"Jeez, what's got your wand in a knot?" asked Melina frowning at her.

"Nothing, it's nothing." She said hastily. Under Mel's skeptical look she faltered slightly, shrugged and said, "I was just thinking about what did the death eaters want. We've been too worried about Lils and Dearborn; we completely forgot why they came here in the first place."

It was clear from her expression that she had put a lot of thought behind it and was more bothered by it than she let on. Melina and Alissa fell silent pondering over it and Saffi returned to her book. She had spent enough time on that particular line of thought to know that nothing good came out of it. Finally Alissa broke the silence by saying loudly, "This is exactly why we need a freaking prank. The mood is too serious. It's like Durmstrang and Grindelwald all over again."

As Melina and Saffi looked at her with startled expressions, she grinned and said in a theatric whisper, "So what's the plan."

* * *

"So err… What are you planning to do?" asked Reginald.

"Wha… oh, err…. I don't really want to work for the ministry or the daily prophet or st. mungos for that matter. I want to start my own shop and I want to do something different from the usual career options that everyone seems to be picking. I haven't really decided but I…..What?" Mary broke off at Reginald's expression.

"I meant, what are you planning to do about your charms notes? You mentioned you lost them." He explained.

"Oh, I don't know. I guess I will have to borrow Lily's, though they are not quite as detailed as mine." She said, biting her bottom lip as she thought.

"Lily Evans? I thought her notes are really detailed." asked Reginald, tilting in head in confusion.

"You may be under that impression because Black and Potter tease her all the time for taking notes in history." Mary replied with a hint of a smile.

"She takes notes in history of magic." Reginald asked incredulously.

"Yeah" Mary laughed. "And then, a week before the exams, everyone begs her and because she has such a huge heart, she lets people borrow them; even Potter. How do you think Gryffindor scores the best in history of magic?"

"Damn, I thought you lot were naturally smart." He replied with a slight grin. "So, why aren't her charms notes detailed?" he asked further.

"Because she is superb in charms, just like every other subject. She doesn't feel the need to write down every bloody detail that Flitwick says while me, a.k.a, the charms handicapped, needs to write it all down." She said pouting angelically as she thought about the charms essay that she was yet to finish.

"You could borrow my notes. They aren't much detailed but I think they might help." offered Reginald.

"Thanks Reg, I don't have any other choice, not if I want to finish the essay on 'oppugno'" she smiled at him.

* * *

"That's it, you both are useless." said Alissa stretching her hands and throwing her quill down.

"We could've told you that; wait, we did tell you." smirked Saffi.

Alissa rolled her eyes and scowled as Mel defended herself, "We have never planned a prank. What did you expect?"

"I shouldn't have expected anything." Alissa muttered to herself while saying aloud, "I'll think of something by myself."

"Good, because I officially hate prank planning."

* * *

"I officially hate charms." said Mary loudly, flinging her quill on the table and crossing her hands across her chest, while glaring at the parchment, nearly upsetting an ink bottle in the process.

Reginald Cattermole was sitting beside her, doing his own work when he sighed and looked up at her, smiling at her expression.

"You think it's funny, do you?" she barked at him. This made him smile even a bit more but it disappeared instantly under her glare.

"I think it's funny that my charms essay is still left. How about we finish it together?" he said, closing his 'a thousand herbs and fungi' and pulling out some fresh parchment. He pulled over his notes and began explaining the basics to Mary while writing his own essay.

Finally, a good two hours later, they were thrown out of the library as the curfew set in. As the two of them parted ways, Mary sighed happily. All her work was done. As she turned around the corner, a hand darted out and grabbed her.

* * *

"I know what we can do." said Sirius for the fifteenth time of their two hour brainstorming session.

"You said the same thing before Padfoot" Peter pointed out.

"And we could have done that if you three hadn't shot down the idea."

"You wanted us to paint Dumbledore's beard Purple, what did you expect." retorted Remus, rolling his eyes.

"Well, that would have been better than flooding the slytherin common room." Sirius scowled.

Peter, James and Remus looked at each other with their eyes wide and the mischievous trademark marauder smile on their faces.

"Do you think it's possible?" Peter asked Remus.

"Well, it is underneath the lake, so if we can somehow divert the water flow in that direction, it could work.

"What could work?" asked Sirius not realizing they were taking his idea seriously.

"Flooding the Slytherin common room, pads." Grinned James thrilled by the mere idea. In this season, it would take several vanishing spells to clear the water and even after that, the place would remain damp. Oh, the Slytherins were in for a bad year.

"Oh, we are doing that, Awesome. So Wormy will sneak down and find out there password and during dinner, when it will be mostly empty, we can sneak in under the cloak. Now, we just need to figure out how to get the water."

* * *

"I figured it out!" cried Alissa suddenly causing Emily to nearly fall off her bed. Lily sat up straight, banging her head with the head board of her bed. Melina gave out a startled shriek and Saffi opened her curtains. As Alissa glanced at their reactions sheepishly, Melina spoke for all of them.

"What the fuck. Why would you scare us like that?"

"I am sorry, I…. I figured out the prank." She beamed and getting up, she did a small sort of victory dance.

Others smiled at her behavior and finally Saffi spoke up, "So what's the plan."

"No ways; I'm not telling." said Alissa with a teasing grin. "You'll find out soon enough."

"Come on! You scared us, you owe us that much." said Melina pouting slightly.

"I didn't scare you. You shouldn't be scared. Constant Vigilance."

"Aliss- Mary, where were you?" Melina broke of mid sentence as Mary entered the room. It had been an hour past curfew.

"Library, studying." She replied automatically, a hint of red creeping up on the back of her neck.

"It has been an hour past curfew." stated Melina, raising an eyebrow.

"Fine, I was coming back from the library when Richard grabbed me out of nowhere and we were at the astronomy tower." She gushed.

"Oohh, details please."

And Mary and Melina disappeared beneath their four posters.

* * *

The next day, with some help from Hagrid, Alissa finally got her hands what she needed. Humming and grinning to herself, she skipped lunch and arrived at the defense classroom before everyone else. Praying that no one would walk in that moment, she snuck to the teacher's table and looked around through the top drawer when she found what she wanted. Smirking to herself she set off to work.

Skipping the lunch break was another group of students. Though most of the students were at lunch, Peter and Remus were keeping guard, while James and Sirius, being better at the spell, flooded the slytherin common room with water. Grinning to themselves and high fiving each other, they arrived in the defense classroom, barely in time. As the defense lecture began, Professor Lankburn, their defense teacher for that year, arrived and began teaching about Dark creatures. Their topic for the week was Inferi. As the professor droned about the said magical creatures, James passed a note to Sirius.

_Pads, how long do you think till they find out about it? _

Sirius, who had busied himself into looking out of the window, looked up in surprise when he received the note. Smirking to himself, he replied

_5 galleons they don't discover it till the afternoon lectures are over._

_I think they'll figure it out by the end of this lecture._

_You have a bet my dear prongsie._

What followed were an extremely restless Sirius and a certain James Potter, equally distracted in his thoughts. Professor Lankburn had a habit of smoking his frustrations away. While he made no obvious attempts at disguising it, hardly a few students knew about it. Alissa had noticed his habit when she had once caught him. James and Sirius's restlessness and eager anticipation added to their inbuilt easily distracted nature was, at the moment, frustrating him to no ends. The mischievous smirks all the marauders wore were getting on his nerves. Finally, he asked them to read the text and make notes while he went out fully intending on a catching a quick smoke.

Sadly, he was in for a surprise. As the class went to their work, he fumbled around the drawers in his desk and pulled out his pack and opened it and gave out a shrill scream. The class looked up in surprise and slowly realization dawned on them, and instantaneously they all laughed. Professor Lankburn had a nasty cut on his finger and a chizpurfle in his hand. In his other hand, he clutched a packet of cigarettes, except that they were destroyed by the creatures. He stopped shrieking and looked up at the class with narrowed his eyes. All at once, the class fell silent. Sirius however was rocking his chair in his laughter and thus his chair fell back on the ground with a thud.

Professor Lankburn's eyes focused in direction and he barked, "20 points from Gryffindor. Black, Potter, Pettigrew and Lupin, detention!" Having said this, he rushed to what everyone assumed the hospital wing for a calming drought and to check on the chizpurfle cut. He left no room for argument on the marauder's part and finally the class shuffled out.

"Bloody hell, how dare he? I didn't even do it."

Outside the class, Sirius was raving about professor Lankburn. The rest of the marauders were trying to get him to calm down but failing, for they weren't giving their best efforts. They themselves were a bit lost and confused. And as Sirius's rant turned more profane, Professor Mcgonagall arrived behind him.

"Language Mr. Black." She said, her eyes flashing and her lips forming a thin line. Sirius gulped slightly and the four boys turned around to face her.

"Detention and a 100 points from Gryffindor." She said tightly.

"For abusing professor? Isn't that too much." Remus dared to ask, which was stupid, considering the dark look on her face.

"No, for flooding the Slytherins common room; four of you have disappointed me greatly. Never once in the history of Hogwarts have I come across such an incident. How could you? Do you have any idea how much time and energy it required on the professors behalf to clear out the corridor? Yes, the corridor too was flooded because of you blithering idiots. A first year nearly drowned. Do you realize consequences of your actions?"

Her voice grew louder and louder with every passing statement. The few people milling around the corridor stood rooted to the spot. The marauders themselves were shocked for at first, they had forgotten their own prank and secondly, because they had never expected McGonagall to be so angry.

And at last McGonagall scolded them and threw in an extra detention for Sirius (for the profanity) and left, leaving her a gaping silence in the tide. For a few seconds, no one spoke and once it was clear that she wasn't going to come back and shout some more, James broke the silence.

"You owe me 5 galleons padfoot."

* * *

It had been two days since the marauders had flooded the slytherin common room and James was whistling slightly as he walked through the corridors for his detention for the same. As he turned around the corner, he came across a sight which burned in his memory. A sight he wished he had never ever come across. It's not like he didn't knew about it but Merlin knows he didn't need a visual. As he turned around the corner, he saw a glimpse of red hair behind sandy blonde ones. Caradoc had his hands on her waist and her hands were wrapped around his neck and that was it. Not even kissing or talking. They were just staring into each other's eyes, unaware of any other company present. And yet the intimacy of moment left James with pang in his chest. He turned around and walked away, taking a longer route to Professor McGonagall's office.

"Where have you been mate? Mcgonagall assigned us the usual shit; cleaning up her office. Do you think I will be able to slip my essay? I didn't submit it on time." said Sirius grinning.

Peter shook his head knowing that Sirius was just joking but he played along all the same. "Sorry mate but she already took off points, no use writing one now."

"You have a point Wormy. But what if I say that I finished the essay later on?"

"Then I would say you shouldn't lie Padfoot." replied Peter cheekily.

And throughout this entire exchange, James was silent. He didn't utter a word, his mind still on Lily, and so he was startled when Sirius shook him roughly.

"Whoa, mate you blacked out for a second there? What happened? And why were you late?"

"I, I just saw Lily with Dearborn." Said James matter-of-factly and his expression spoke the rest of his thoughts.

"Oh, that sucks buddy." said Peter, pulling a sympathetic face.

Sirius on the other hand clapped James on the back and said, "Don't worry prongs. It will work out. One of these days, she will realize how amazing you are."

"I assume Lily is the topic of your conversation." came a voice from behind.

The three boys whirled around to find Alissa leaning on the door frame. "McGonagall's not here."

"I know. Trust me, I can see." She replied with a slight smile. The confusion was evident on the three boys' faces.

"If you were looking for Slughorn, he's not here either." Sirius said slowly. Everyone let out a snort and Alissa decided to clear up the matter. "I'm here to tell you that your detention for Lankburn's cancelled."

"Yeah, we know. Apparently, the person who came up with the ingenious Chizpurfle prank confessed to get us out of trouble. True Gryffindor, this fellow. But it must've been someone smaller or older. The only other boy in our year is Paul and he is hardly the one to play pranks." said Peter thoughtfully.

"Well, aren't you lot sexist? It could've been a girl."

"Well, can you imagine Mary Mcdonald get her hands near a chizpurfle or the horror, my girlfriend Emily." said Sirius with a snort. "A girl indeed"

"Well, do you really think the prank was ingenious?" asked Alissa hopefully, a smile creeping up on her face.

"Yes why do you ask?" said Sirius, still trying to figure out the prankster.

James, who had noticed the mischievous grin on Alissa's face caught on. "Oh Dear, it was you wasn't it?"

Alissa simply nodded and grinned as James let out a soft whistle. "That was indeed something."

"I'm glad to be of entertainment. And now I need to do my detention, you lot are free to go." She replied, shrugging James off modestly.

"Haven't you heard? We're in detention because we flooded the slytherin common room the same day." said Sirius with a loud laugh.

"I heard about that, I mean everyone heard about it but I didn't know you lot were responsible." Alissa said in awe.

"Well, who else could've done it but us." said Sirius with a lack of modesty that surprised no one.

And then Peter told her to clear out the right side of the desk and they got to work.

"So where lupin?" she asked finally, gazing out of the window towards the full moon. It looked so white and shiny, like the one to provide light in all the darkness. Evan managing to put all the others stars to shame in its full glory. Little did she realize that this full moon was the reason Remus hadn't joined them.

"He... err, he went to visit his mother this week. She's seriously ill."

Alissa nodded, a look of concern on her face. In order to change the topic, Peter asked the first question he could think off.

"So chizpurfles, where did you think that up?"

And the whole lot of them exchanged stories and the little inside details on their pranks. And that is why if you ever get the chance to ask Alissa what she thought of chizpurfles, she will grin from ear to ear. She will laugh out loud and profess her undying love for them. Because chizpurfles are reason she ended up becoming friends with the marauders.

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_**Author's** **note:**__I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Once again i apologize for the late update and i am sorry to say i can't promise when the next update will be. Things have been really busy please don't give up on it because i haven't. I am going to see this story to the end, i promise. On that cheerful note, goodnight._

_Reviews are better than sleep._

_Writer._


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